Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has defended the right of ASIO chief Duncan Lewis to "speak out" after reports he called Coalition MPs to urge them to tone down the language they used in public discussion of Islam.
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News Corp reported on Thursday the director-general of ASIO had angered some MPs after phoning them to tell them some of their remarks posed a potential risk to national security.
MPs critical of the intervention see it as an attack on free speech.
But Ms Bishop said on Thursday Mr Lewis was right to share his views if the public commentary was affecting ASIO's work.
"If the director-general of ASIO has formed a view that the public debate might have the potential to put at risk the work that his organisation is undertaking in countering terrorism, then of course he should speak out," Ms Bishop said on Thursday.
In an interview with News Corp last week, Mr Lewis said some of the public discussion around Islam had the potential to fuel a backlash against Muslims that would make ASIO's work more difficult.
It comes after former prime minister Tony Abbott used an opinion piece last week to call for a "religious reformation" within in Islam.
Mr Abbott called for a "hearts and minds campaign against the versions of Islam that make excuses for terrorists, saying Islam had not undergone an equivalent version of the Reformation and Enlightenment in Christian nations.
He said societies "can't remain in denial about the massive problem within Islam" after terrorist attacks in Paris and the Middle East, the deaths of Katrina Dawson and Tori Johnson in the Martin Place siege last year and Curtis Cheng outside Parramatta police station in October.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull responded to Mr Abbott's remarks by cautioning against blaming all Muslims for Islamic State terrorist attacks.
"I'm not about to run a commentary on Mr Abbott but I'd simply make the observation again that the one thing we need to be very careful not to do – and I'm sure Tony agrees with this by the way – is to play into the hands of our enemies and seek to tag all Muslims with the crimes of a few," Mr Turnbull said last week.
"The simple fact of the matter is the vast majority of Muslims are as appalled by these acts of extremism as we are."
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