MELBOURNE: A decision on whether Australia withdraws from the New Delhi Commonwealth Games because of security concerns will be made by the sporting bodies, not the government, acting Foreign Minister Simon Crean said on Sunday.

Crean said that there was no concern about security at the games, despite the views of an expert who is worried about possible terrorist attacks.

"In the end, it is not a decision for the government whether the team actually goes," Crean said. "It is a decision for the athletes. It is also a decision for the sporting bodies.

"At this stage, we continue to say there is no reason for concern. That is a view that has been expressed by the sporting bodies and by a number of athletes."

Security consultant Lloyd Bromfield, who has worked at the Sydney, Athens and Beijing Olympics, and who will work at the London Olympics in 2012, was alarmed by New Delhi's lack of preparation.

"The worst-case scenario could be a major bombing," he told News Limited newspapers on Sunday.

"It could be a Mumbai-style (attack), where you've got a team of Osamas running around with hand grenades and small arms. It could be anything.

"I wouldn't suggest it would be an airplane into a stadium, but you have to consider everything because these people have the capability, they have the intent, the motivation ..."

In late December, England's Commonwealth Games officials said they were closely monitoring security in New Delhi but had received no intelligence suggesting their athletes would be targeted by terrorists at the event and force the team to pull out.

England sought advice from Britain's Foreign Office and London's Metropolitan Police, but neither had advised a withdrawal from the Oct. 3-14 games.

A front-page report in the Dec. 30 Daily Telegraph in London claimed there was "virtually no chance" England would send a team because the lives of its competitors and officials would be in danger. The newspaper quoted unnamed political sources as saying that the formal pullout would be announced in the New Year.