BRISBANE, Australia — Australia has not ruled out boycotting the Champions Trophy following the International Cricket Council's decision to push ahead with hosting it in Pakistan despite safety concerns.

"The fundamental principle for us is that we don't send players or staff somewhere that isn't safe," Cricket Australia spokesman Peter Young said in an interview Friday. "We have concerns about the situation in Pakistan and we need to be satisfied about those concerns before we could be comfortable sending a team there."

Young said CA would wait until the last assessment of the ICC's new security taskforce comes back on Aug. 10 before making a final decision, and had not set a deadline for "no-go" date.

"We want to satisfy ourselves with independent rigor ... and unless we're satisfied, we can't send a team," Young told The Associated Press.

No. 1-ranked Australia is the only test-playing nation that has not toured Pakistan in the last decade. Its scheduled tour in March and April was postponed to 2009 due to security concerns.

Young said Cricket Australia was not concerned about what pressure the ICC or other countries might apply to get the reigning champions to defend the title.

"Our track record speaks for itself," he told The AP. "We have previously made difficult decisions — we've pulled out of going to Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe on occasions when safety has been an issue."

ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat acknowledged the decision might lead to withdrawals by teams or individuals but said his organization would work hard to allay all security fears for the limited-overs tournament that features the world's top eight teams.

"Our security advisers are very confident," he said. "We know of no credible threat against the event or any players. The Asia Cup was held recently and there were no incidents. It was a pretty safe event."

But players unions in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa expressed concern after the ICC, following a Thursday telephone conference involving all 10 test countries, opted against switching venues for the Sept. 11-28 event.

Australian Cricketers Association chief Paul Marsh said he could not recommend any players tour Pakistan and urged CA to take the same stand.

A boycott was "certainly on the cards," he said. "There are many players, not just in Australia but all around the world that are not comfortable with going to Pakistan at this time.

"So the sad part about all of this is that the Champions Trophy looks like it's going to disintegrate into a second rate event unfortunately."

New Zealand Players' Association head Heath Mills said touring Pakistan had met with unanimous disapproval from his players.

"There isn't one player I have spoken to who is comfortable about traveling to Pakistan at the moment," he said. "From what we've seen from the various security reports compiled prior to the meeting in Dubai (on Thursday), there is no way you could consider Pakistan a safe workplace.

"We're not in a position where we can compromise on this issue. If we compromise on player safety for commercial considerations or politics then in my view we might as well pack up our bags and go home."

Young said Cricket Australia, the ACA and the players would "stay joined at the hip as we go through the final weeks working out our position."

Part of that process would be getting a detailed, confidential briefing from the Australian government about the situation in Pakistan, Young said.

Australian allrounder Andrew Symonds and New Zealand's Jacob Oram, two of the heaviest hitters in the game, have long said they won't risk their safety to tour Pakistan.

A spokesman for Symonds said he was traveling Friday and not available for comment. Shane Watson, the other Queensland allrounder in the Australian squad, said he would play whereever, whenever he could for Australia, but would take that decision under advisement from the national administration.

Cricket Australia has guaranteed any players who opt out for legitimate safety concerns would not suffer future selection repercussions.

Last October, the Pakistan Cricket Board had to shift a limited-overs international against South Africa from Karachi to Lahore after suicide bombs killed about 150 people in a procession of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. The ex-premier was killed by a suicide attack in Rawalpindi in December.

Pakistan hosted the six-nation Asia Cup tournament this month without any major incident in Karachi and Lahore.

However, on the day of the Asia Cup final, a suicide attacker detonated explosives near a police station in the capital Islamabad, killing at least 19 people.

A string of six small explosions a day later wounded at least 37 people in Karachi. Karachi is one of the host cities for the Champions Trophy, along with Rawalpindi and Lahore.