The Australian Government will hand over to India details of investigations into high-profile cases of attacks against Indians — particularly students — in Victoria, the Premier of Victoria State John Brumby told The Hindu.
The details will include how many people have been charged, arrested and convicted, said Mr. Brumby, who is on a visit to “strengthen trade/investment and cultural ties”, which have been strained in the wake of the attacks.
The Victorian Government has conveyed this to Union Cabinet Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi.
Following a recent incident where a teenaged Australian football player, reportedly high on alcohol, attacked an Indian cabbie, Mr. Brumby has launched a series of ad campaigns titled “Respect Agenda” and moved to tighten liquor laws in the State.
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Conceding that a “very small portion” of these instances of violence against Indians were indeed racially motivated, he said: “I believe that even if we have only one of these racially motivated attacks in a decade, we have had one too many.”
Nevertheless, he reiterated that Victoria’s capital Melbourne is one of the safest cities in the world with a 24 per cent lower crime rate than the rest of Australia.
Damaged reputation
The attacks have indeed damaged Victoria’s reputation as multicultural and diverse state and, by extension, Australia, Mr. Brumby admitted.
He said maintaining diversity is critical and the Government is taking multi-pronged remedial measures.
A key reason for his visit is to assure India that Victoria is taking measures to tighten security and the educational system. “We have pumped in more funds into the police system (to employ more personnel), given the policemen more powers and even amended the law to provide for harsher punishment to those involved in racial crimes,” Mr. Brumby said.
The government has launched a 24x7 student support service which provides counselling and help in both English and Hindi.
These proactive measures are complemented by state-organised “diversity rallies” and awareness-building campaigns.
“Melbourne is multicultural so I reiterate that any racial crime is certainly out-of-character.”
On the education front, Mr. Brumby admitted that there is a “quality control issue” with several privately funded courses in Australia.
“The federal government is in the process of conducting random audits to tighten this system,” he said.
This, and not fear of racist attacks, is likely to result in a decrease in the number of Indian students entering Australia in the coming years.
Tighter norms will ensure only quality students entered Australia, and these norms will have to be adhered to by educational consultants (or immigration agents) in order to keep a check on the overall quality of the system, he said.
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