Prime Minister Tony Abbott says that while there is a moral difference between fighting for Islamic State and battling against the extremist group, Australians should still not get involved in the conflict in Syria and Iraq.
The comments come amid reports Gold Coast man Reece Harding was killed over the weekend after stepping on a landmine during a night-time operation with Kurdish forces battling IS fighters in Syria.
"Obviously there's a moral difference between fighting for the Islamist death cult and fighting for those who are doing their best to defend Iraq and the Kurdish areas from the death cult, but nevertheless this is a very dangerous place and Australians shouldn't go there," Mr Abbott said on Wednesday.
The prime minister, who on Wednesday was visiting the RAAF base at Williamtown, north of Newcastle, said he was not in a position to confirm Harding's death, which comes after reports that notorious Australian Islamic State fighters Khaled Sharrouf and Mohamed Elomar, from Sydney, had been killed last month in al-Raqqa in Syria.
"But I do have a very simple message to people - if you are thinking of going to fight in the Middle East, think again," Mr Abbott said.
"If people do leave the country to fight for terrorist armies in the Middle East, we don't want them back. If they do come back, we want to lock them up for as long as is needed to keep our community safe."
Harding is the second Australian to die fighting alongside Kurdish forces after Canberra man Ashley Johnston, originally from Queensland, was killed in February.
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