Australian police said on Wednesday anyone suspected of lighting the Victorian bushfires could face murder charges.

Dannye Moloney, head of the newly-formed Taskforce Phoenix set up to investigate the blazes, said that police believed some of the fires may have been deliberately lit.

"There could be charges as high as murder," Moloney told ABC Television.

There was also a charge in Victoria of lighting a fire which caused death, for which the penalty was up to 25 years' jail.

"I think that reflects the community's attitude towards this type of behavior," Moloney said.

(Xinhua News Agency February 11, 2009)