Australia defends terrorism summit 'guest list'

CANBERRA - Australia's attorney-general Philip Ruddock today defended the composition of delegates at a terrorism summit in Canberra, saying the government wanted speedy advice it could take to the premiers' conference.

Muslim leaders will meet Australian prime minister John Howard today to discuss how to deal with extremists preaching in their communities.

Mr Howard has defended the guest list, which has 14 moderates but no radical leaders, saying he wants to marginalise extremists.

The meeting follows the deadly London terrorist attacks last month, perpetrated by home-grown Muslims who became involved with terrorist networks in Britain.

Mr Ruddock said some people would find fault with whatever the government did, but this was not a matter which could be teased out over a long period.

"We hope that those who are participating, being meaningful contributors in their own various ways, will have thought very seriously about what they are going to say," he told the Nine Network.

"What it will do is demonstrate that this is a continuing process in which we are engaged. This meeting was held today to enable an input before the premiers' conference."

One conference delegate Ameer Ali, president of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, said he would have preferred some radicals to attend the conference so their arguments could be countered and demolished rationally.

"That way we can also marginalise them. When they see that the majority of the delegates are not in favour of their views, they will realise that they are a small fringe group," he told the Nine Network.

"But it is the Prime Minister's call and we can't dictate terms to him."

Not attending the summit is Keysar Trad, director of the Lebanese Muslim Association, who said that not inviting the radicals meant they would not be getting the message from the prime minister and fellow Islamic leaders.

"Some of these people have gone some way to meeting Australian values," he told the Nine Network.

"Some of them have gone out of their way, contrary to the wishes of their congregations. Now, their congregations will be saying to them 'See, we told you so - you'll never be accepted. No matter what compromises you make, the Australian government will not accept you'.

"If John Howard wants to have a constructive summit, he would have asked for submission of papers, he would have asked for across the board Australians to contribute."

Mr Ruddock said the meeting was about building a relationship to demonstrate Australia was an inclusive society in which people were not marginalised.

"We want to hear what people have to say. But we also want to make it very clear that there are certain shared values which you accept when you come to Australia," he said.

"This is a situation in which everybody would like to be involved and not all can be. We can't make it a convention if you are going to try and get meaningful outcomes from it."

- AAP