One witness claimed Ali was yelling “allahu akbar” and is believed to be known to counter-terrorism agencies, the Melbourne Age reports. Ali had arrived in Australia with his family in the 1980s as a refugee. SBS reports Mr Morrison said while he supported religious freedom, religious extremism must be called out. “Radical, violent, extremist Islam that opposes our very way of life,” he said in a speech on Saturday. “Religious extremism takes many forms around the world and no religion is immune from it.

“But here in Australia, we would be kidding ourselves if we did not call out the fact that the greatest threat of religious extremism in this country is the radical and dangerous ideology of extremists.” The Australian National Imams Council responded immediately, calling the attack a national tragedy before adding it was “outraged” by the prime minister’s linking Islam to a radical and dangerous jihadi ideology.