Malcolm Turnbull has used his valedictory speech for 2015 to rebuke Coalition MPs who have singled out Australia’s Muslim population in the terrorism debate.

“It is very important that we ensure that we do not allow our enemies to divide us,” the prime minister told the chamber on Thursday, the last day of parliamentary sittings for the year. “That is what they seek to do. They seek to divide us and cause us to turn against, in this case, the Muslim Australians.”

Turnbull, who returned from climate change talks in Paris on Wednesday, highlighted the problems of integration confronting countries such as France. Australia, he argued, did not face the same kind of problem.

“We know from a practical point of view we are the most successful multicultural society in the world,” Turnbull said. He reiterated his call for Australians to stand together in the face of extremism.

“At the heart of all of this is a culture of mutual respect and a sense that all Australians, regardless of their race, their cultural background, their ethnicity, their religion, have a common share in this great Australian project. That is the critical thing – to ensure that all of our citizens believe they have a share in the great Australian project.”

This week some Coalition MPs renewed calls for the Muslim community to stamp out radicalisation.

The House of Representatives on Monday debated a motion brought by the Liberal National party backbencher George Christensen calling for action against radical Islam.

The Liberal backbencher Craig Kelly said: “These terror plots that have recently been in our country have all had one thread in common, and they have been undertaken in the name of a radical interpretation of Islam,” he told parliament on Monday. “If we are to have this debate … we must do it without it being bogged down and censored by the tyranny of political correctness.”

On Sunday the resources minister, Josh Frydenberg, told Sky News the Muslim community had to accept it had a “small but significant” problem with extremism. “We have to acknowledge that religion is part of this problem,” he said. “I would say it is a problem within Islam.”

Turnbull attempted to head off community tensions shortly after the shooting of police civilian worker Curtis Cheng in Parramatta by emphasising the inclusive nature of Australian society.

“Those people who decide that the response to the extremism of a very small minority is to vilify all Muslims are absolutely acting in a thoroughly counterproductive way,” the prime minister said in October. “That is the most counterproductive thing you can do.”