The federal government's national security cabinet will meet to discuss a plan to repatriate Australian women and children from Syria.
The committee, made up of senior government ministers briefed by top defence brass, will on Tuesday afternoon discuss whether to pull the trigger on repatriating 16 women and 42 children who are families of Islamic State members, AAP has confirmed.
It has been reported a secret mission by Australian spy agency ASIO cleared the way for the plan involving families held in the al-Roj detention camp in northeast Syria for three and a half years.
The opposition is arguing the plan carries an unnecessary risk to the Australian public, raising concerns some of the families could be radicalised.
Home affairs spokeswoman Karen Andrews said she didn't give the green light to the mission while in government over safety concerns for Australian officials going into Syria.
The need for ongoing observation of those repatriated also suggested there was a risk to the Australian community, she said.
"If there were no risk to the community, there would be no need for control orders," she told Seven's Sunrise program.
"Some of these people have been exposed to and had willingly been part of things that Australians could not imagine.
"That means they do pose a risk, because we do not know the extent of the radicalisation of these people, especially young male children."
But Labor frontbencher Tanya Plibersek said a lot of the women were forcibly married to Islamic State fighters, while others were tricked.
Ms Plibersek said anyone who took a child into a war zone was committing child abuse and anybody who broke the law by willingly joining the terrorist organisation needed to be held to account.
"At the end of the day, we've got 40 Australian kids in one of the most difficult and dangerous places in the world," she told the ABC.
"We've got Australian children growing up in difficult, traumatic circumstances."
A spokesperson for Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neill said the government doesn't comment on cabinet matters.
