Government wants Australia to reconsider Zimbabwe tour

The Australian government has continued to add its voice to the calls for Australia's tour of Zimbabwe in September to be cancelled in the wake of violence and human rights abuses in the country. It added, however, that a final decision would be left Cricket Australia (CA), which leaves the board open to fines from ICC.

"The government's present inclination is that we would prefer that the tour did not go ahead," said Helen Coonan, the government's deputy leader in the upper house of parliament. "The position that Cricket Australia takes will be a matter for them, but clearly the government's view will be drawn to their attention."

Under ICC rules, Cricket Australia must tour every ICC member country at least once every five years or face fines totalling millions of dollars. The only way CA can avoid being fined by ICC if it does not tour is if it has a legitimate security concern or is prevented from touring by the Australian government.

Earlier in the week the foreign minister, Alexander Downer, said he was deeply disturbed by events in Zimbabwe and would raise the issue with Cricket Australia after the World Cup.

"I've not been a great fan of cricket tours to Zimbabwe," Downer told the ABC. He said the final decision on the September tour rested with national and international cricket authorities and involved contractual issues. "But once the World Cup is over," he said, "we'll talk to the Australian Cricket Board about this."

The regime of the Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe has drawn international criticism over its brutal crushing of dissent this month, including the shooting of an activist and the beating of several opposition leaders. CA said it had not yet considered cancelling the tour, which involves three one-day internationals.

"We're just not thinking about it, it's not on our current agenda and not on our radar as such," the spokesman Peter Young said. Young said the reports of violence in Zimbabwe were "appalling", but he could not say whether the tour would go ahead if the violence continued. An Australian delegation will be sent to Zimbabwe before the tour to check on the security arrangements for the players and team officials.