Australia's Acting Prime Minister Julia Gillard said Friday that it would be disappointing if the Australian leg of the Olympic torch relay was cancelled.

"It would be disappointing if the torch relay didn't go ahead," Gillard told Fairfax Radio Network.

"It's one of the things which has historically built the excitement for the Olympic Games," she said.

Gillard said that not everyone had the financial capacity to attend the Games in Beijing, "but they feel they are in touch with the Olympic movement because they see the torch go by."

The only Australian leg of the relay will go through Canberra on April 24.

(Xinhua News Agency April 11, 2008)