One Nation leader Pauline Hanson's call for deporting or interning people deemed security threats has met with mostly criticism, but some support, from federal politicians.
In an open letter to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull last week, Senator Hanson said stronger action is needed on migrants and refugees put on Australian security authorities' watch list.
Pauline Hanson says, after the spate of attacks in Britain and the most recent one in Melbourne claimed by IS, Australia must do more to guard against what she calls "Islamic terror."
In a letter to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull last week, Senator Hanson urged the Government to seriously consider a moratorium on the immigration of Muslims to Australia.
She added those on watch lists who are not Australian citizens need to be deported and those who are should be interned to neutralise their possible harm to the country.
Indigenous Health Minister Ken Wyatt has now told Sky News internment should, indeed, be considered as a policy.
"It's a measure that has to be there as a last resort. Now internment is something that none of us want on a broader front, but I, equally, am committed to making sure that whatever we do as a Government that we are protecting Australians. And whilst I don't agree with internment, if it is an option for any individual or a group, then that may be a measure that ensures that we don't have the growth of a group that wants to create further harm."
But human-rights groups have condemned Senator Hanson's call to apparently detain people without charge or conviction as a potential violation of the rule of law.
And Labor M-P Matt Thistlethwaite says the Government should ignore her proposal.
"The notion of imprisoning people based on ethnic lines without trial is the antithesis of the Australian system of democracy and really goes against this whole Westminster notion of democracy that we've inherited from the British parliament as well. So, it's certainly not Labor policy, and I was quite surprised to hear Ken say that."
It is not a suggestion without precedence in Australia.
In the 1940s, thousands of migrants from Italy, Germany and Japan were labelled "enemy aliens," rounded up and taken to internment camps under the country's National Security Act.
But Liberal senator James Paterson has told Sky, while he understands the need for more control of individuals who pose a threat to national security, internment is too much.
"As a Government, we put the security and safety of Australian people as our number one priority. I don't agree, though, that internment is the best way to deliver that. Speaking as plainly as possible, internment is a fancy way of saying, 'Put people in jail who have not been charged or convicted of a crime.' And other than at times of world war, it's not something a liberal democracy would ever, or should ever, contemplate. I don't think it's the answer to making Australia secure. If we believe that there are people in our community who should not be free to go about their lives in our community, then we need to change the law so that they can be charged and they can be convicted and they can be put in jail in the normal legal way, in the normal judicial process."
Senator Paterson says he does support stronger measures to allow increased monitoring of people deemed security risks before they are charged or convicted of any offence.
In 2016, Australia passed laws allowing indefinite detention of anyone convicted of terrorism-related offences if authorities believed that person posed a threat after release.
There has been no suggestion internment would be considered again under the Turnbull Government, despite proposed changes to parole and citizenship laws.
Labor's Andrew Leigh has told Sky he supports debate about changes to parole and citizenship laws but not internment.
He says he wants more dialogue with Muslim communities.
"We also need to recognise that a great strength of Australia is our moderate Muslim community, who are the eyes and ears of countering violent extremism. We need to work with them, not turn them away."
