Sydney  - A government proposal that women in the Australian Defence Force be allowed to fight on the front line alongside men drew fire Thursday from the opposition Liberal Party.

Defence Personnel Minister Greg Combet argued that military roles should be entirely competency-based rather than be dictated by the current regime, under which women may kill people from a jet fighter but not from a tank and are trusted to patrol a civilian airport but not a military one.

Women serve in support roles on the front line, driving trucks, for instance, but are excluded from actual combat and being part of the elite Special Air Services (SAS) regiment.

Australia lags behind Israel, New Zealand and Canada, where merit is the only consideration.

Liberal defence personnel spokesman Bob Baldwin said his party believed in both gender equality and gender discrimination.

"The coalition believes in the equality of opportunity for women in the Defence Force," he said. "The coalition, however, doesn't agree with the placement of women into forces such as the SAS, clearance divers, commandos or front-line combat engineers."

Brigadier Michael Krause, the head of the army's rapid reaction force, welcomed the dismantling of gender barriers, saying the war in Afghanistan had changed thinking about what roles are on the front line and which are not.

But Australia Defence Association executive director Neil James said the public wasn't ready for women in bodybags.

"I don't think the people of Australia would like to see their daughters, sisters, wives or female friends killed in disproportionate numbers to male service personnel," he said. "On the battlefield, academic gender equity theory doesn't apply." (dpa)