Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has condemned "deplorable" national security leaks and insisted he did not disclose details of confidential cabinet meetings.

And in the latest escalation in the saga, a separate senior cabinet minister has challenged leakers to quit cabinet if they can't maintain confidentiality.

During a wide-ranging press conference on Wednesday, Mr Turnbull also launched a passionate defence of the need for governments to protect the rule of law while combating terrorism. Restricted government power is the key difference between democracies and tyrannies, he said.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott told his cabinet this week there would be "political and personal consequences" for leaking after Fairfax Media published extraordinarily detailed revelations of a cabinet debate on plans to strip citizenship from suspected terrorists.

The leaks have reignited tensions, with some in the Coalition privately pointing the finger at Mr Turnbull as the leaker. However, Mr Turnbull's supporters have claimed the leaks were designed to make him look soft on terrorism.

"I don't leak from cabinet meetings and I didn't leak from the last one either," Mr Turnbull said.

"You should be able to have a confidential discussion and then when a decision is reached there should be a formal announcement. I think there's been far too much of this over some time and I'm glad that maybe this has all been a bit of a wake-up call."

Mr Turnbull said the leaks from last week's cabinet meeting were "very bad" and "deplorable".

"You've got to have an environment where you can have candid and confidential discussions and when decisions are taken they should be announced," he said. "They shouldn't be leaked, they shouldn't be foreshadowed, they should be published in the normal way."

Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane on Wednesday warned the leaker or leakers they should quit the cabinet if they can't keep details confidential.

He also said the Abbott cabinet needed more discipline so it could have a "warts and all, no holds barred discussion" as part of good government.

"In the end, if people can't abide by the confidentially of the cabinet room they should leave the cabinet... where it becomes apparent, the Prime Minister has made clear he is going to take action," Mr Macfarlane said.

"It's to no one's advantage, least of all good government, that people reveal what need to be fairly frank discussions in the cabinet."

Mr Turnbull was one of six ministers who spoke against a proposal to give Immigration Minister Peter Dutton the power to strip an Australian of their sole citizenship, describing the idea as an "extraordinary proposition".

He also criticised the cabinet process and sought assurances that cabinet decisions had not been briefed to News Corp publications before they had been made.

Asked about the leaks for the first time on Wednesday, Mr Turnbull said everyone was concerned about keeping Australians safe but the rule of law was also vital.

"It is not good enough that laws simply be tough, you know, this is not a bravado issue ... they've got to be the right laws," he said/

"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."

"You see, look, what is the essence of a democracy? Some people would say a democracy is one where the majority get to do what they want. That's not a democracy. That's a tyranny."

Mr Turnbull said the lesson from the Arab Spring was that democracy would fail if there are not restrictions on the power of governments to do as they please.

At the cabinet meeting, Mr Turnbull reportedly said of the proposal to strip citizenship from Australians if they have the right to citizenship in another country: "A person's citizenship is of enormous importance, intrinsic to themselves. Take me. The only people who've lived in Australia longer than my family are Aboriginal. I have no other identity. Are we seriously saying some minister could take my citizenship?"

Told this would only apply if he was a terrorist, Mr Turnbull reportedly said: "Only if you are someone the minister thinks is a terrorist."

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has also denied leaking details of the cabinet meeting and has denied raising concerns about the proposal to strip Australians of their citizenship.

"I was not present and as I was not the source of the leak I slept soundly," Ms Bishop said.

Mr Macfarlane said he personally didn't know anything about the leak and joked he was a "very poor note taker".

"I'm not going to speculate on what has happened, don't honestly know if someone has leaked and who has leaked, there has certainly been some very accurate statements made in newspapers in relation to discussions that were had in cabinet," he said.

Mr Macfarlane's confirmation that the leaks were accurate stand in stark contrast to the Prime Minister's assertion on Sunday that they were "false reports".

In question time on Wednesday, an under pressure Prime Minister was asked by Opposition Leader Bill Shorten about Mr Macfarlane contradicting his statement about the accuracy of the leaks.

"Who is telling the truth? You or your Minister," Mr Shorten said.

But a fired up Mr Abbott, in turn, pressured the Opposition Leader about the proposed citizenship changes.

"Our policy is to strip citizenship from terrorists who are dual nationals, it's a very good and strong policy and it's important - it's an important part of our national security policy because the first priority of government is to keep our people safe," he said.

"Let me make it absolutely crystal clear - anyone who lifts a gun or a knife to an Australian because of who we are has forfeited any right to be considered one of us. That is the fundamental principle. Does
the Leader of the Opposition agree with it?

"That is what we believe. What does he believe? What does he believe? Yet again we just don't know."

Labor's legal affairs spokesman Mark Dreyfus followed up by asking the Mr Abbott if he would seek guarantees from the Attorney-General, Agriculture Minister, Defence Minister and Education Minister they had not leaked cabinet details.

That quartet, along with Mr Turnbull and Ms Bishop were named as raising concerns about the proposal to strip sole nationals of their citizenship.

Mr Abbott accused Mr Dreyfus of focusing on "gossip and trivia" while Australia faced "an unprecedented  challenge to our national security".

"This is an unprecedented national security challenge and the Labor Party still can't say or won't say where it stands on the vital issue of stripping citizenship from terrorists with dual citizenship," he said.