Downer met with officials from Cricket Australia (CA) and the Australian Cricketers' Association and said later that the government was exploring existing legal avenues to have the tour abandoned.

"We don't want the tour to go ahead, and so we explained to them that we are going to explore legal options whereby we may be able to stop it. I'm not sure it's going to work, but we are exploring those options," Downer told reporters.

He said expert advice so far was inconclusive, but he ruled out new legislation to stop the tour as a protest against the regime of Robert Mugabe.

"But if there is some existing legal basis to stop it, that's an option for us," he said.

Downer said Cricket Australia faced financial sanctions and the possibility other nations may boycott tours of Australia if it broke its contract to tour Zimbabwe, while the players were not keen to boycott the tour.

"They (Cricket Australia) understand very well where the Australian government is coming from and the Australian public is coming from," Downer said.

"(The players' association's) view is that they don't want to be put in the invidious position of having to make a decision themselves. They would rather that the government made the decision.

"Personally, I don't want the tour to go ahead, but I don't want Cricket Australia or I don't want, particularly, the cricketers to be put in an embarrassing position if that's at all avoidable."

CA chief executive James Sutherland said his organisation clearly understood the federal government's concerns and preference on the Zimbabwe issue after the discussions with the foreign minister.

"In conjunction with the ACA (players' association), we will continue to work through these issues in the coming weeks and fully brief the players and Cricket Australia Board of Directors so they are as informed as possible before a decision is finalised," Sutherland said in a statement.

"Cricket Australia is also conscious of world cricket's requirements that each country visit all other nations regularly as part of the ICC's Future Tours Programme.

"Cricket Australia is strongly committed to the global development of cricket."

Sutherland said a joint Cricket Australia-Australia Cricketers' Association security delegation would travel to Zimbabwe to assess the safety issues closer to the date of September's tour.

ACA chief executive Paul Marsh said the players' union will continue to work with Cricket Australia, the Australian government and international cricket authorities to reach an acceptable outcome.

Former Zimbabwean cricketer Henry Olonga said an Australian tour would be a propaganda coup for Mugabe.

Olonga, who gained international recognition in 2003 when he wore a black armband during the World Cup, said Australia's cricketers have a chance to make a strong statement against the regime.

"The picture they've tried to paint to the rest of the world is that if the reigning world champions are willing to tour Zimbabwe, then there can't be too much amiss," Olonga told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).

"I think that's probably one of the real dangers of the tour going ahead.

"Once in a while -- once or twice in your career, perhaps -- you have the opportunity to make a real difference in a way that is above just another bundle of Test wickets or another couple of hundreds."