Labor frontbencher Jason Clare says Prime Minister Tony Abbott will look "silly" if parliament passes his tough laws on citizenship but then the High Court tears them down.
Mr Abbott will introduce laws this week to strip dual nationals of their Australian citizenship if they fight overseas with terrorists.
The prime minister in a video message released on Sunday says he is doing everything he can to keep terrorists out of Australia.
"If you fight with terrorists or plot against Australia and are a dual national, you should forfeit your Australian citizenship," Mr Abbott says.
But he believes there's a fundamental difference between the government and Labor on the issue.
Shadow Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said last week that foreign fighters should be allowed back home to face court on whether their citizenship should be revoked, rather than being at the discretion of Immigration Minister Peter Dutton.
But when pressed on Sky News about whether Labor agreed in principle with the proposed changes to citizenship laws, Mr Clare said: "You bet".
If people don't get killed fighting in Syria and Iraq, he doesn't want them back.
"If they come back they are more likely to come back to my electorate then any other and cause us more problems," the member for the western Sydney electorate of Blaxland said.
He said the prime minister was trying to act tough, but quoting Liberal frontbencher Malcolm Turnbull, it wasn't about "bravado" but being "smart".
"Let's get the legislation introduced and get it right," he said.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten is also "deadly against" dual citizens who are terrorists keeping their citizenship.
"(But) There is no doubt in my mind that a law which simply says there's no role for the courts does not stack up constitutionally," Mr Shorten told ABC TV.
Human rights commissioner Tim Wilson has taken to heart comments made by the government that any decision made is reviewable by a High Court.
Mr Dutton said on Friday said the courts must be able to scrutinise the process.
"I do think that any stripping of citizenship in the end should be made by a court rather than the discretion of a minister," Mr Wilson told Sky News, but he thought a minister could temporarily suspend citizenship of someone who posed a risk to national security and Australians.
Greens Leader Richard Di Natale said he had huge concerns about the citizenship issue and the government's handling of national security more broadly.
"I am concerned that it is an issue that's used in an effort to play politics," he told ABC television.
He thought Mr Abbott implying Labor wanted to roll out the "red carpet to terrorists" was disgraceful.
"I would much rather that a court decide whether someone was able to be an Australian citizen, rather than Peter Dutton who has shown himself to be inept in health and now in immigration," Senator Di Natale said.
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