ANDREW OKEEFE: As we've been reporting all morning, the five men who allegedly planned to sail to Indonesia en-route to Syria to fight for ISIS have been charged overnight. The men face life prison sentences.

ANGELA COX: Joining us to discuss are two people likely to have a very big say in the Upper House, Labors Leader in the Senate Penny Wong and Independent Tasmanian Senator Jacqui Lambie. Good morning to you ladies.

SENATOR PENNY WONG, LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION IN THE SENATE: Good to be with you.

SENATOR JACQUI LAMBIE: Good morning.

COX: First to you Jacqui. What have you made of the news of these arrests and I understand you have your own policy launch today on terror laws. Your party is releasing a new call to action video today, lets have a look.

JACQUI LAMBIE NETWORK VIDEO: Why has this Liberal Government allowed 190 Islamic State supporters to live freely among us and only be monitored by ASIO? Why aren't they arrested, charged with serious crimes? We know what happens when terror supporters are only monitored. The way this Government manages our security is an embarrassment to all Australians, including our Turkish, Indian and Middle Eastern communities. The Liberals are risking your security for political correctness.

COX: So, Jacqui can you explain to us what exactly is it that you're proposing?

LAMBIE: Okay, so, I have been on about this about six months ago when I was in Estimates I questioned ASIO and I wanted to know how many terror suspects that they had out there. They said that they had 190. I specifically asked them why they haven't arrested them, they wouldn't give me an answer. But secondly, what was more disturbing is that they had enough evidence to take away their passports, but that they still had not arrested them. So, if they've got enough evidence to take away their passport, which I believe that these five men had their passports taken away from them, why aren't they arresting them? And why aren't they locking them away and throwing away the key and actually setting an example and saying that we're not going to tolerate this, zero tolerance.

OKEEFE: I understand Jacqui, its incredibly frustrating when they won't give you the reasons behind their decision making processes here. But one, I guess, can assume that they only have enough evidence to take away the passports, to use that aspect of the existing legislation, but not enough to actually arrest them.

LAMBIE: You know what, I think when people are under surveillance and we seen what happened at the Lindt Cafe with Man Haron Monis, okay hed been under surveillance for quite some time and that ended very, very terribly. So, you know what, instead of waiting until that last minute, its about time that we put our foot down and we showed the rest of the world and we led and we're out there on the front foot as leaders. It's about time that we came down and took some really hard action out here. The Liberal Party never needed to put new laws in because the laws are already there. They are treason and sedition laws and I've been very, very clear about those laws. What theyre doing is theyre mucking around with peoples Australian lives out there and Id had enough. If theyve got enough evidence to take away their passports, then I want them arrested and I want them p ut behind bars.

COX: Okay, thanks Jacqui. Now Senator Wong, do you think its time to go much further with protecting Australians against potential terrorists? What do you think of this plan?

WONG: When it comes to national security, we've taken a bipartisan approach, a responsible approach. Weve made sure we sat down with the Government through a committee that I actually sit on, a Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, and we work through the legislation that the Government proposes and that has passed with bipartisan support. So the legislation under which these men are being charged, I think, from listening to your introduction, is legislation that was updated with bipartisan support to reflect the fact that obviously we live in a world now where people might choose to act against Australia, but not for another foreign country, for another foreign power or another foreign entity, in this case, Islamic State. So that's the approach we've taken.

Now I've not heard the detail of Jacquis proposal until I heard what you just played. I suppose what Id say is this: that if there is evidence to charge people, then the authorities ought charge them. If there isn't, then obviously there are other mechanisms available under our national security legislation and I assume that is what ASIO would have answered to her in Senate Estimates.

OKEEFE: Can I just change topics here, because I think we've both fairly comprehensively said our piece on that one. It appears more and more likely that whoever wins this upcoming election may not have the numbers in the Senate, which will mean relying on crossbench support and particularly relying on Greens, potentially. Of course, Penny, Labor has said that you won't go into a coalition with the Greens. But what if the reality is that you can't govern without them?

WONG: Well, first I'd say, I absolutely agree with Chris Bowen, Labor governs alone or not at all. We are looking to achieve majority government in our own right. That's our plan, thats the way we are approaching this election. Now the Senate has always been the chamber in which governments often don't have majority. I mean in the time I've been in Parliament, which is getting longer now, I think John Howard only had control for a short period of time, which of course is when he passed the WorkChoices legislation.

So governments of both political persuasions have always had to talk to the crossbench, whether that's Jacqui, Nick Xenophon or the Greens or Glenn Lazarus or whomever, about legislation that we wanted to get through. So that is business as usual. You are always going to have to talk to the crossbench in the Senate, because governments generally dont control the Senate.

OKEEFE: And because the Australian people elect crossbenchers, it's the name of the game.

WONG: They are entitled to do that.

OKEEFE: Absolutely. Jacqui, of course you are one of the cross benchers in the crossfire. We'll talk to you more on that issue throughout the election campaign. For the moment, Penny and Jacqui thank you so much for joining us this morning.

LAMBIE: Thank you for having me on.

WONG: Thank you.