It said yesterday it wanted to avoid giving a propaganda victory to “grubby dictator” President Robert Mugabe.
Prime Minister John Howard said his government had taken the decision out of Cricket Australia’s hands.
Howard said: “I don’t think it’s fair to leave a foreign policy decision of this magnitude on the shoulders of young sportsmen.”
He preferred that his government accept responsibility and urged other cricketing nations to follow suit.
“The Mugabe regime at present is behaving like the Gestapo towards its political opponents, the living standards of the country are probably the lowest of any in the world and you have an unbelievable rate of inflation.”
Howard indicated his government would enforce the ban, if necessary, by stopping the use of the cricketers’ passports.
Australia captain Ricky Ponting said he did not dispute the decision to stop the tour.
“I’m comfortable that the Australian government has taken the responsibility for making international affairs decisions on behalf of the country,” Ponting said.
Cricket Australia CE James Sutherland said his organisation would assess the detail of the government’s decision and might play Zimbabwe at a neutral venue, possibly SA. Cricket Australia was committed to cricket development, he said.
However, Cricket Australia faces a $2m fine if it goes ahead and abandons the tour.
Howard said his government had offered to reimburse it for any losses under its agreement with Zimbabwe Cricket.
Howard, who has repeatedly urged Zimbabwe’s African neighbours to do more to oust Mugabe, said it was difficult for countries such as Australia and Britain, viewed as the “old, white west”, to interfere. He said the election of Zimbabwe to head a United Nations (UN) environmental commission was “appalling” and “tells you something about the UN process”.
Zimbabwe’s ambassador to Australia, Stephen Chiketa, said last week that politics had no place in sport and the tour decision would affect development.
