In 2003, Tanya Plibersek, then a little-known Labor backbencher, marched up to George W Bush's national security adviser Condoleezza Rice in Parliament House and presented her with a letter opposing the Iraq War.

A decade later Plibersek, now Labor's foreign affairs spokeswoman, is backing the Abbott government's decision to participate in US-led air strikes on Islamic State forces in Iraq. She also supports new laws that could see journalists and whistleblowers jailed for up to 10 years if they disclose the details of ASIO special intelligence operations.

Power line: Penny Wong, Bill Shorten and Tanya Plibersek face the press at Parliament House. Credit:Andrew Meares

Unlike Labor frontbencher Anthony Albanese, who said on Sunday the laws were "draconian", Plibersek insists they are justified, will only be used rarely and include adequate protections for public-interest reporting.

Aware of disquiet within Labor's left-wing base about the party's studiously bipartisan approach to national security, Plibersek denies that Labor has failed to apply adequate scrutiny to the government.