Downer defends Australia 'terror' fight

MANILA (AFP) - Foreign Minister Alexander Downer unleashed a stinging attack Thursday on critics of Australia's anti-terror laws, which have come under fire over a bungled criminal case involving an Indian doctor.

Downer insisted it was a "very, very big mistake" to criticise the country's measures, saying they were intended to save Australian lives after bombings in Indonesia in recent years that have killed dozens of Australians.

"I'm amazed that these tough laws generate as much controversy as they do in Australia, particularly bearing in mind what I've seen on two occasions in Bali and at the Australian embassy in Jakarta, and in the hospitals surrounding them," he told a news conference.

"If a terrorist attack occurs and dozens of Australians... or even five or six Australians are killed, what will you say to their families?" he said on the sidelines of an Asian security conference in Manila.

"For the terrorists, the sentence for their victims is death. It's death. And so we are trying to preserve lives with tough laws."

Those laws have been in the spotlight over the case of Mohamed Haneef, an Indian national who who had been working at a state hospital in Australia.

The 27-year-old was charged with providing "reckless" support to a terror group in connection with June's failed car bombings in London and Glasgow and was held for three weeks before being released for lack of evidence.

Downer vowed that Australia would take no risks.

"We'll continue to pursue that policy regardless of what our critics say," he told reporters.