The United States and Australia agreed Tuesday to take concerns about the threat posed by jihadist foreign fighters in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere to the United Nations.
The issue was discussed at AUSMIN talks in Sydney today with US Secretary of State John Kerry.
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop says the US and Australia share a concern about their citizens fighting in conflicts around the world and becoming radicalised.
Ms Bishop said the concern about extremists returning home with terrorism skills was shared across the world.
"This idea of having a forum, a discussion at (UN) leaders' week is something I believe will be well supported because so many countries are facing this threat," she said.
The discussion was spurred by images of a Sydney-raised boy holding the severed head of soldier in Syria.
The image, posted on the Twitter account of the boy's father Khaled Sharrouf, an Australian who fled to Syria last year and is now an Islamic State fighter, has raised fears that fighters will return to their home countries, radicalised and dangerous.
The image was "one of the most disturbing, stomach-turning, grotesque photographs ever displayed," Senator Kerry said.
"This is utterly disgraceful and it underscores the degree to which (terrorist group) ISIL is so far beyond the pale."
He said Australia and the US had agreed to "work together to assemble a compendium of the best practices in the world together regarding those foreign fighters".
An African president recently had said that 1800 citizens of his country had gone to Syria to fight, Mr Kerry said.
While 1100 had died, that left 700 who could return home to the African country "knowing how to fix an IED (improvised explosive device), knowing how to arm weapons, knowing how to explode a bomb, knowing how to build a suicide vest".
"We have a responsibility to take this to the United Nations and to the world so that all countries involved take measures ahead of time to prevent the return of these fighters and the chaos and havoc that could come with that."
