Social Services Minister Scott Morrison has suggested Australians who are sole nationals and involved in terrorism overseas could have their residency rights suspended, rather than being stripped of citizenship.
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As Prime Minister Tony Abbott vowed on Monday the government would press ahead with its plan to strip dual nationals of citizenship, Labor seized on divisions revealed by Fairfax Media last week that saw a split in the cabinet and Mr Abbott overruled on his preference for the immigration minister to have the ultimate authority on removing the citizenship of Australians who are not dual citizens.
Although not listed formally listed for discussion, the citizenship proposals - and the damaging leaks - were expected to be discussed in cabinet on Monday night.
Mr Morrison's compromise proposal would mean an Australian citizen who does not hold the citizenship of a second nation could be prevented from returning to Australia for a period of time.
The suspension of citizenship would be less drastic than the proposal to strip citizenship from a sole national who, in theory, may be able to access the citizenship of another nation because of their ancestry.
Mr Morrison, who is a former immigration minister, said on Monday that "one of the rights of citizens is to enter and remain in Australia and that is a right that if the legislation were changed could be suspended".
He said a discussion paper, released at the same time the as the government announced plans to strip citizenship from terrorists who are dual nationals, canvassed a range of measures on how to handle deal with the potential threat posed by sole Australian nationals involved in or linked to terrorism overseas.
"Those measures include the suspension of certain rights of citizenship, that doesn't mean you are abolishing someone's citizenship, or rendering someone stateless," he said.
"What it means is that in the same way citizens can have their rights of citizenship temporarily suspended, particular rights such as the right to vote if you are in prison or something like that, then that provides other options to consider."
In question time, Labor seized on the fact that six members of the Abbott cabinet - Defence Minister Kevin Andrews, Foreign Affairs Minister and deputy Liberal leader Julie Bishop, Attorney-General George Brandis, Agriculture Minister and deputy Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce, Education Minister Christopher Pyne and Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull - had spoken out in a private cabinet meeting against the proposal to give Immigration Minister Peter Dutton the power to strip an Australian of their sole citizenship.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten pressed the Prime Minister on whether the federal police had been asked to investigate the leak, while his deputy Tanya Plibersek asked if cabinet was a "shambles".
But Mr Abbott pressed the opposition to reveal whether it would back his proposed laws on dual citizenship and said legislation would be brought to the Parliament in about a fortnight.
"Legislation will come before this parliament to strip citizenship from terrorists who are dual nationals. I think the people of Australia deserve to know where the Labor Party stands on this issue. The position of government is clear. We will strip citizenship from terrorists who are dual nationals," he said.
The core objection of the six ministers was that an Australian citizen could effectively be rendered stateless, in violation of international law.
However, proponents such as Liberal MP Dan Tehan - who is one of more than 40 backbench MPs to have signed a letter urging the prime minister to taker tougher action against terrorism - argue judicial safeguards would be put in place and that the law would broadly imitate a similar law recently adopted in Britain.
Referring to the cabinet leak, Mr Abbott said while those in Parliament focused on process the public didn't care about "who said what to whom in any particular meeting".
