Aust'n PM calls for safety measures in wake of deadly Bourke Street car attack

Australia's Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Friday called for the installation of safety barriers at Melbourne's Bourke Street Mall to help avoid a repeat of the deadly car attack which killed five people last week.

More than 30 pedestrians were injured and five people, including an infant, were killed when a man drove his car down the Bourke Street Mall in Melbourne last Friday.

The street is off-limits to cars, but there are no bollards preventing vehicles from entering the area, and the prime minister said more needed to be done to prevent such unnecessary attacks from happening in the future.

"This is a very, very concerning vulnerability," Turnbull told Macquarie Radio on Friday.

"We need to be able to ensure - as much as we can - that it is not possible to get a vehicle into that place.

Turnbull said while last Friday's attack was not considered terrorism, it does show the "vulnerability" of a place such as the busy Bourke Street Mall. He said the truck attack in Nice was a similar example.

"It is a significant issue where you have a big mall like that where it is relatively easy to get a vehicle into a place where you have a large number of people," the prime minister said. Endit