Brand Australia suffering from attacks on Indian students: Minister

Australian Minister for Resources Martin Ferguson

Brand Australia has suffered following attacks on Indian students in the past nine months and this will cause long-term damage if not attended to, says a visiting Australian minister.

“The attacks (on Indian students) have hurt us in terms of perception about Australia and that’s why our law enforcement agencies have been so committed to pursuing arrests and prosecution and have been successful in some instances for long-term imprisonment. There have been 67 prosecutions in recent times,” Australian Tourism Minister Martin Ferguson told IANS in an interview here.

Mr. Ferguson said that the Australian government was not taking these attacks lightly and will do everything possible to curb the criminal acts.

“Of course if you don’t attend to these difficulties then they will do us long-term damage. Historically one of the attractions of Australia is that it’s a safe welcoming society…it’s very much such a society,” said the minister who has been a member of the Australian House of Representatives since March 1996, representing the Batman, a constituency in Melbourne, which has been the epicentre of recent attacks.

“My constituency is close to central Melbourne and there are people from 150 different countries. It a harmonious local community and there are very few places in the world where you get people from so many different countries living together and working together,” said the 57-year-old Australian Labour Party member.

“My constituency is a prime example of society in Australia. But I also have a significant number of young university students living in my electorate, in universities of Melbourne and Trobe who are very much devoting their energy and applying their minds to educational opportunities,” he said.

The spate of attacks on Indians in Australia has caused an outcry in India. One of the vicious attacks proved fatal.

The minister said steps needed to be taken to ensure quality education to Indian students at affordable cost.

“I think it is fair to say that in terms of vocational education and some English language courses, we have to attend to some issues to make sure that young Indian students get a quality education opportunity and are capable of paying for it without spending too much time working rather than applying their minds to educational requirements,” he said.

According to the minister, one of the major causes of attacks on Indian students is that they live in crime-prone suburbs and work in late shifts to survive in the country.

“There has been a 27 percent increase in the number of students in 2008-09 from the previous year. There has been tension in Victoria (the province of which Melbourne is the capital). More than 50 percent Indian students actually go there. The real problem we had is with respect to some of the students living in some of the suburbs which historically had high instances of criminality,” Mr. Ferguson said.

“They work in service stations, fast food outlets, take shift jobs at all hours of night, which is when criminality occurs. In some ways their lifestyle has put them in the frontline of attacks. We tried some laws in Victoria, we have put more police and we have got them to do random checks on people,” he added.

Attacks on Indians ‘regrettable’: Australian PM

Australia’s Prime Minister Kevin Rudd

Amid allegations of racism in Australia, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on Thursday said the recent attacks on Indian youths were “regrettable” but insisted that these should be seen in the context of broader incidences of violence against locals and students of other ethnic groups.

“Regrettably, there have been some incidents recently, let’s accept that, but let’s put it into context, and also in the context of, let’s call it, the broader incidences of violence to students of other ethnic backgrounds, acts of violence against Australian students, acts of violence in particular parts of our large cities at any given time of the day,” Mr. Rudd told reporters in Adelaide.

“I think it’s important to keep all this into its context,” he said, adding “Obviously these are difficult matters in India; they are difficult matters in Australia.”

Nearly 100 cases of attacks on Indians, mostly students, were reported in Australia in 2009 as against 17 incidents of assaults in 2008.

“We are working through them in a practical and effective way over time,” Mr. Rudd said.

About 100,000 Indians were currently studying in Australia.

“The truth is this: the vast majority of Indian students in Australia are embraced entirely by the Australian community, get on with their business of studying hard, getting their qualifications and going off to do whatever they want to do with their lives,” he added.

Indians feel attacks not due to race, but other factors

With incidents of attacks on Indians here on the rise, many community members feel the root cause of such assaults is not race but the students’ financial conditions that force them to be out at night for odd jobs to meet high cost of living in Australia.

Many Indians in Australia feel students from India should be “alert” and “careful” if they are travelling at odd hours in the night. “It is not the race that is the problem but it is their hard financial conditions,” Ravi Bhatia, Primus CEO and a leading community member, said reacting to the latest attack in which a 22-year old Sikh was attacked while he was asleep at a bus stop.

“What makes you sleep at that time at a bus stop? Are you not inviting problems by doing so?” he asked.

“Students as migrants have some obligations also and they should take basic safety measures,” he said.

Srinivas Vasan of Federation of Indian Association of Victoria (FIAV) said Australia is the most multicultural society and has allowed people from all over the world to live here peacefully.

Over 30 Indian students were attacked in various Australian cities from June to September.

“We have been urging students on some do’s and don’ts like organising their late night travels, not carrying cash and being careful and alert. If you are working late nights and travelling odd hours in public transport you are expected to be alert and careful,” Mr. Vasan said.

Echoing his views, Neeraj Nanda, Editor of a local Indian newspaper who conducted a survey on what could be the cause of such attacks, said majority of Indians settled here felt that their own countrymen were largely responsible for the attacks.

“Talking to many families I found all most everyone felt that Indians were to be blamed for inviting problems.

They refuse to integrate in Australian society that sorts of annoys the localites,” he said.

While Australia still tops as a safest destination for many Indian students, for many of them things are not as rosy as painted by their agents back home and interestingly, there has been a pattern noticed in such incidents.

Most of the students in vocational courses hail from rural parts of India. With little or no financial support they pick odd jobs like in security, cleaner, at petrol stations or drive a cab late at night.

To add to the problem, they rent out in cheap and crime-prone areas and use public transport at odd hours which make them highly prone to such attacks.

“We have many Indian students who work odd hours and do not sleep properly for days as they work odd hours,” said Elizabeth Drozd, Victorian multiculturalism commissioner and a university teacher.

“They attend their classes in the morning and work late nights to meet out their living,” Ms. Drozd said, adding many of these students feel so tired and they sleep anywhere.

However, Gautam Gupta of Federation of Indian Student Association disagrees with the view. He said if someone sleeping at late night at a bus stop was risky then half of India was at high risk.

Mr. Bhatia said like Indians even Chinese student population is huge here but majority of Chinese belong to affluent families and they can afford expensive education and living.

“Chinese do not become such targets as they are from rich families and can easily afford the expenses of living and studying here. Aspiring students should be able to fully fund course fee and not rely on a part-time work wages,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Australian government has suspended almost 200 agents operating in a number of countries for lodging online student visa applications because of evidence of fraud or poor approval rates.

11 killed in Bodo militants attack in Assam

Guwahati: At least 11 persons were killed in Bodo militants attack in Assam. The carnage took place at a village in Assam’s Sonitpur district on Sunday evening.

According to the recent reports, militants belonging to National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) faction, which is opposed to talks with New Delhi, gunned down 11 people including two women.

Nine others are said to be injured in the incident. Superintendent of Police Surender Kumar told “NDFB insurgents attacked Balisang village in Biswanath Chariali police station and fired at the locals having a mixed population of Assamese, Nepalese and Adivasis.”

Official sources said the militants had attacked the villagers as they refused to pay the extortion demands.