Convicted terrorists who have served out their jail sentences could be detained longer under a new proposal Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull will put to state and territory leaders.
Schemes that allow sex offenders in most states and territories to be kept in jail after serving their sentences would be extended to convicted terrorists under the proposal to be floated at the Council of Australian Governments meeting in Sydney on Friday.
The changes would apply to all convicted terrorists, with the government's sights particularly set on those who aren't dual nationals and can't be stripped of their Australian citizenship.
There are 13 terrorist offenders in Australian jails at present - nine in NSW and four in Victoria.
Only NSW and South Australia have post-sentence preventative detention schemes that apply to violent offenders, like murderers, as well as sex offenders.
But even those schemes would not apply to convicted terrorists who have been caught before violent acts could have been carried out.
Mr Turnbull will tell premiers and chief ministers existing laws are inadequate, allowing convicted terrorists to freely re-enter the community once they've served their sentence, even if there is a high risk they could reoffend or harm the public.
Authorities rely on control orders for monitoring terrorists and terror suspects.
In the absence of a conviction, a suspect can be detained for a maximum 48 hours at the federal level or 14 days at state level.
The federal government argues the schemes have strong legal support.
