Sydney - Australian police with beards and ponytails began a legal fight on Monday to keep them.

Nine Victoria Police officers appeared before a Melbourne anti-discrimination tribunal to try to overturn a January ruling that restricts men among the 14 000-member force to neatly trimmed moustaches.

Beards are permissible only for those like Sikhs who have cultural or religious reasons to wear them.

The Police Association, a labour union, said the nine were on their own in their case before the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

''We're not providing any representation or support in their quest for a change,'' Police Association spokesperson Sandro Lofaro said.

Edmund