States and territories should enact laws to keep convicted terrorists locked up if it's believed they may commit another terror-related crime, Attorney-General George Brandis says.
The proposal was put to first ministers by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull at this week's COAG meeting.
Speaking in London on Friday after counter-terrorism talks with British ministers and officials, Senator Brandis said it was not merely a crime-and-punishment situation.
"Some people by reason of disposition, by reason of ideology, by reason of their inability to think or behave in any other way, are going to present a threat to the community even after they have served a term of imprisonment," Senator Brandis said.
"The only way to keep the community safe is to keep them off the streets."
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Senator Brandis said some states already had similar legislation in relation to convicted pedophiles deemed to be at risk of re-offending upon release from prison, and those laws had been upheld in the High Court.
He said such a measure for convicted terrorists would be judicially supervised and would be best enacted through the state and territory prison systems.
"I expect that in a collaborative way, led by the Commonwealth, the state and territory ministers will get behind this scheme and pass legislation in their own parliaments to enable that to be done."
