Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has social media giants including Facebook and WhatsApp in his sights in the global fight against terrorism, flagging a crackdown on "ungoverned spaces" online.

In the clearest signal yet that Australia will, like Britain, pressure social media companies to do more to cooperate with governments to combat would-be terrorists who are organising online, Mr Turnbull has declared the rule of law must apply online as it does in the "analogue, offline world".

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull during Question Time at Parliament House in Canberra on Monday 19 June 2017. fedpol Photo: Alex Ellinghausen Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

In confronting Islamist terrorism, Mr Turnbull said, it was important to recognise terrorists wanted to divide Australians, but that in what was largely a "war within Islam", it was important to work with moderate Muslim leaders like Indonesian President Joko Widodo and community leaders at home.

Mr Turnbull spoke at a meeting of the Liberal Party's federal council in Sydney in which he also highlighted his government's success in passing the Gonski 2.0 needs-based school funding reforms, despite tight negotiations with the Senate crossbench.