Govt against Australia touring Zimbabwe

Cricket Australia is facing government pressure to scrap the forthcoming tour of Zimbabwe amid continuing violence and human rights abuses in the southern African nation.

But cricket's governing body has postponed making a decision on three one-day game tour in September until after the current World Cup series winds up next month.

Communications Minister Helen Coonan told the Senate on Wednesday that the tour would be left to Cricket Australia (CA), but she made it clear the government would prefer it to be called off.

"The government's present inclination is that we would prefer that the tour did not go ahead but would leave the decision to Cricket Australia, noting that of course Cricket Australia has ... other obligations to the ICC (International Cricket Council)," she said.

CA is bound by an obligation under the ICC's future tours program to visit every member country at least once every five years or face millions of dollars in fines.

It can avoid the penalties if there are legitimate security concerns or it is prevented from touring by the Australian government.

CA said that along with the Australian Cricketers' Association, it would review security arrangements closer to the time of the tour.

"There's a lot of time between the World Cup and the tour and we'll continue consulting with the relevant departments as the tour gets closer," a CA spokeswoman said.

Recent violence and human rights abuses in Zimbabwe, including beatings by police on opposition party members, have drawn world-wide condemnation.

Australia has imposed progressively strengthened travel bans and financial sanctions against the government of President Robert Mugabe since 2002.

In parliament, Australian Greens senator Kerry Nettle moved that the government consider compensating CA for any ICC fines if it pulled out of the tour, but the government used its numbers in the Senate to defeat the motion.

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer has previously called on the ICC to change its rules to allow teams to forfeit tours to countries where serious human rights abuses are occurring.

Mr Downer, meanwhile, continued to urge African nations - particularly South Africa - to rein in the Mugabe regime, saying there was growing concern in the region about the Zimbabwe government's actions.

"My takeout from the diplomatic representations we have made around southern Africa in the last week or so is that there is a very significant increase in the degree of concern," he told ABC radio.

"So I am more optimistic now about the attitude of the southern African countries than I was a month ago."

Mr Downer vowed Australia would not back down from its position on Zimbabwe, despite a dressing down delivered this week by Zimbabwe's foreign minister to Australia's ambassador in Harare, Jon Sheppard, for monitoring court cases involving opposition figures.