Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says news of a chemical weapons massacre in Syria is "repugnant" and he wants United Nations weapons inspectors to investigate.
Mr Rudd says Australia co-authored a United Nations security council letter to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon requesting weapons inspectors be immediately dispatched to establish the facts.
"The use of weapons of mass destruction in any circumstances is intolerable and unacceptable in any civilised nation," Mr Rudd told reporters in Victoria on Thursday.
"When weapons of mass destruction, including chemical weapons, are used against civilian targets it is repugnant beyond description."
Syrian rebels claim President Bashar al-Assad's forces massacred up to 1300 people in the chemical attack on the outskirts of Damascus.
Mr Rudd said Australia's UN Ambassador Gary Quinlan personally briefed him after attending a lengthy emergency UNSC meeting in New York.
Asked if it was time for the international community to directly intervene in Syria's long-running civil war, Mr Rudd said there should be an "appropriate course of action" once the facts are established.
A UN chemical weapons team arrived in Syria at the weekend to investigate three sites where chemical weapons were previously alleged to have been used.
But they would need Syria's approval to investigate the new allegations.
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said the reports were shocking and, if proven, could constitute a crime against humanity.
"If true, an utterly reprehensible thing," Mr Abbott told reporters in Sydney.
"And I've got to say, of a piece with the kind of horror we have come to expect from one of the worst regimes in the world."
But Mr Abbott said there was no magic wand that would bring the Syrian conflict to an end.
"No one should underestimate the difficulty of trying to bring about better outcomes in the Middle East."
Foreign Minister Bob Carr said the attack could signal a serious escalation in the conflict.
"The images are appalling," he said of video footage of children suffering after the alleged attack.
The incident should "quicken the resolve" of the world to secure a ceasefire in the country, he said.
He urged Syrian supporters such as Iran, Russia and China to tell the Assad regime that chemical weapons are a "red line" that cannot be crossed.
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