Treasurer Scott Morrison says the infiltration of Australian cultural values will help counter extremism within the Australian Islamic community.
But Assistant Minister for Multicultural Affairs Connie Fierravanti-Wells said  a major challenge facing Australian Muslims was finding a more unified way to recognise problems and offer rebuttals for extremist interpretations of their faith.
"One of the things that happens to religions over time in Australia is they become more Australian," Mr Morrison said. 
 "I mean the cultural values of Australia sort of determine a lot more of their local practices.
"That happened with the Catholics, it happened with the Anglicans, it happened with the Pentecostals, it happened with the Jewish faith - it happens over time.
"A lot of the cultural things  attached to a religion that were part of things in the Middle East, they  drift off after a while."
He was speaking after ministerial colleague Josh Frydenberg criticised the Grand Mufti's response to the Paris terror attacks and WA Liberal Andrew Hastie called for Islam to modernise itself and "cohere with the Australian way of life".
Senator Fierravanti-Wells said Muslim communities in Australia were having to deal with negative views  about Islam. 
"Only Muslim Australians can change these perceptions and this needs to include a more unified approach, recognition of the problems and a willingness to be part of the solution," she said.
The senator said after  consultations with more than 80 Muslim organisations she believed the Australian Islamic community was at a "crossroads". 
"The overwhelming majority of Muslims in Australia want to  work hard and build a better life for themselves and their children," she said. "But every time something happens, like Paris, they feel like they have to justify their Australianness."