Kevin Rudd: Australia Pledges to Protect Indian Students

In a major speech in the Australian parliament today, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd condemned recent attacks on Indian students. Any violence against them would be met with “full force of the law”, he added.

He said that more than 90,000 Indian students in Australia “are welcome guests in our country.”

(A latest report states that a helpline to assist Indian students who are victims of crime will begin operating from Friday. See here…)

(Meanwhile Australian police detained 18 Indian youths for “breaching peace” in Melbourne as thousands of students held a massive peace rally against recent attacks on their community. More here…)

Kevin Rudd added: “In recent months, there have been a number of attacks on young Indians studying or working in Australia – in particular three recent attacks in Melbourne involving six young Indians.” (See my earlier post here…)

The Australian prime minister described the attacks as “a much wider problem of urban violence in various parts of some of our larger cities. Australians deplore and condemn these senseless acts of violence.”

His government at Canberra “was working closely with state governments to ensure that the perpetrators of these crimes are brought to justice and that government agencies are responding to these crimes to protect all students and others in our community.”

Rudd said he also told Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that “more than 200,000 Australians of Indian descent are welcome members of the Australian family. I look forward to working with Prime Minister Singh in the years ahead as we take our relationship with India to the front rank of our international relations.

“Australia is a country of great diversity, harmony and tolerance.
We are a multicultural nation and we respect and embrace diversity – diversity which has enriched our nation.
That is why these recent acts of violence are all the more deplorable. They are equally unacceptable.

“The Minister for Foreign Affairs on Friday spoke to his counterpart, External Affairs Minister Krishna, about these matters and assured him of the seriousness with which the Australian Government is addressing these matters.

“The Deputy Prime Minister outlined last week steps the Government will be taking to respond to the specific concerns of international students. We will work closely with the states to implement these measures as a matter of urgency.

“The Australian Government is committed to developing a stronger, closer relationship with India. We have many common interests – those of history; those of the present; and those of the future as two Indian Ocean democracies.”

Meanwhile the President of the (Australian) National Union of Students, David Barrow, said “the Federal and State Governments need to make Indian students feel more comfortable about approaching Australian authorities.

” ‘You need to feel welcomed by this country and right now we are treating international students like cash cows as opposed to human beings,’ he said.” More here…

The Age of Australia reports: “Canberra is battling to reassure New Delhi that Australians aren’t racist, fearful the outcry over attacks on Indian students may harm relations and stop the flow of lucrative education dollars.” More here…

The CNN-IBN reports: “An Australian police team is expected to reach in India on Monday morning to reassure potential students.” More here…