Labor questions terror law 'whim'

Federal Labor has signalled it may not support government plans to give the immigration minister powers to strip terror suspects of their citizenship.

"It is unthinkable that this should be allowed to be determined by ministerial whim," shadow attorney-general Mark Dreyfus told reporters in Canberra on Wednesday,

Legislation will be presented to parliament before the end of next week.

Labor has criticised the government for not providing it with a briefing on the legislation, saying it is trying to destroy bipartisanship on national security.

"We've given in-principle support to the idea that there needs to be an examination of current Australian citizenship law," Mr Dreyfus said.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has claimed there are sections of the opposition not as serious as they should be on national security.