Malcolm Turnbull has pledged to legislate to keep terrorists in jail beyond their sentences if they don't renounce their extremists views.
In the wake of the Orlando shooting, the prime minister said there was a risk of "self-motivated, self-activated acts of terrorism" by lone wolves inspired by extremists.
Mr Turnbull wants the states to pass laws to allow convicted terrorists who still pose a risk to the community to be detained indefinitely, and said the issue would be high on the agenda if he's re-elected on July 2.
"This is a global threat, we have to take it very seriously and ... Australians know we will leave nothing aside in our determination to protect them," Mr Turnbull told reporters in Perth on Tuesday.
“The Federal Government is taking the lead on drafting that and if we are re-elected, we expect to present legislation that can be enacted by the states and the Commonwealth to ensure that occur."
Terror expert Greg Barton told SBS there's need for a change to deal with convicted terror plotters who remain an ongoing threat.
"The basic idea that there are some individuals who have ongoing influence that malign - to themselves but also to younger people who fall under their influence - that there be some limitation on their freedom to balance up the common good makes sense," he said.
Defence lawyer Rob Stary isn't as convinced, saying those released already face heavy surveillence, and anything futher is an erosion of human rights
"We don't jail people in the sense preemptively for what we think they may do, this isn't George Orwell's (novel) '1984' I'm afraid," he said.
"Let's see a demonstrated need before we invest further powers and incarcerate people at an enormous cost to the community for what their thinking rather than what they're doing."
A Labor Party spokesperson said: "As Bill Shorten outlined in his response to the National Security Statement in the Parliament, Labor has consistently sought to provide bipartisanship on national security and we maintain that commitment."
-With AAP
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