Paris attacks: France will 'never retreat' from values in wake of violence, French ambassador tells Q&A
French ambassador to Australia Christophe Lecourtier has described the fatal attacks in Paris as a war against the values that France and Australia share.
More than 120 people were killed during coordinated attacks in the French capital on the weekend, through what Mr Lecourtier described as "cowardly" actions.
He told the ABC's Q&A program on Monday that his country would "never retreat one millimetre" from its citizens values in the wake of the violence.
"It's a war because the values that we share, the values that we've been sharing with the Australians probably since the First World War are at stake," he said.
"There are some people who do not accept our way of life, that do think that death is far more important than life and the kind of life we enjoy.
"We want to be able to go out with anybody, to dress as we want, to be in love with any people we want — we love. So that's the kind of things these people do not accept."
Mr Lecourtier also spoke on the French airstrikes, where 20 bombs were dropped across Syria following the attacks.
"We had to retaliate and probably this will happen again in the coming times," he said.
He called for people to embrace the Muslim community, saying that the majority of the Muslim population in France were good people.
This can't be about Islam, it's about moderates against extremists.
Senior minister Christopher Pyne supported the remarks, adding that Australians must not allow extremist militant Islamists to represent the Islamic faith.
"Moderate Muslims need to be embraced in Australia or elsewhere," he said.
"Moderate Muslim governments need to be embraced, wherever they might be, because they have as much at stake as we do in defeating the extremists."
Labor frontbencher Kate Ellis also called for unity, criticising the comments of former politician Pauline Hanson.
"When we are talking about us versus them, it was Muslims who were the first victims of Islamic State," she said.
Independent senator Nick Xenophon also called for leaders to learn from its past mistakes when it came to addressing the threat from Islamic State jihadists.
"This can't be about Islam, it's about moderates against extremists," he said.
"We cannot bomb our way out of this ... what happened in Iraq was a bloody mess."
Concerns raised over Australian intake of refugees
Mr Pyne also faced questions over Australia's security screening for Syrian refugees, just hours after the Turnbull Government announced the first of the 12,000-strong intake would arrive this week.
He acknowledged concern among some, but said Australia had sufficient processes in place to ensure the safety of both refugees and Australians.
"I'm sure it's not beyond our wit to run a very serious filter over everyone coming to Australia," he said.
"We have been doing that for decades, and we are pretty good at it."
Mr Pyne said it was Australia's responsibility "as a sophisticated, wealthy, First World developed country" to take on some of the refugee burden.
Mr Lecourtier conceded that for France, it may be true that "among the thousands of refugees some wolves are hidden amongst the sheep".
"That's why we have, of course, to strengthen the controls that we can organise, but it's pretty difficult, as it was difficult for the French police or intelligence to prevent people from striking, people that were ready to die," he said.