Cabinet minister Malcolm Turnbull says tackling extremism should not be a matter of "bravado" or who is tougher on terrorists.
The communications minister and former Liberal leader responded on Wednesday to reports of a dispute within cabinet over a move to strip citizenship from Australians involved with terrorist groups.
"Some people like to suggest that some people are tougher on terrorism or tougher on national security than others," Mr Turnbull told reporters in Queanbeyan.
"Honest people, knowledgeable people, really well-informed people can have very different views about what the right measures are on national security and have very different views about the right balance between, say, citizenship and national security."
Governments around the world needed to get the balance right, between upholding the rule of law and tackling extremists.
"In terms of national security and counter-terrorism laws ... it is not good enough that laws simply be tough, you know, this is not a bravado issue," Mr Turnbull said.
"They've got to be the right laws."
Mr Turnbull called the leak from the cabinet "deplorable", saying ministers had to be able to talk to colleagues in a confidential fashion.
"(But) I'm glad that maybe this has all been a bit of a wake-up call."
It would be a simple step to extend long-standing legal powers to strip the Australian citizenship of dual citizens who fight for another country to a person who fights with a terrorist group, Mr Turnbull said.
But the government should not render someone stateless.
"We are party to a UN convention about statelessness ... the answer to that is very clear," he said.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said he would work constructively with the government to deal with dual nationals who fought with terrorist groups.
But he did not want to see national security become a political football.
"The government wants to politicise issues - what we want to do is take the long-term national interest," Mr Shorten told reporters in Canberra on Wednesday.
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