Australia Tuesday vowed to crack down on migration scams targeting Indian students and condemned a "cowardly" attack on a female reporter who blew the lid on the shady practices.
Source: Channel News Asia
- Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said Australia was tightening regulations on migration agents after a current affairs TV show exposed rip-offs exploiting students who have fueled the country's booming international education sector.
- The revelations are the latest to damage the 15.5 billion dollar (12.7 billion US) a year industry, Australia's third-largest export earner after a series of violent attacks on Indian students living in Melbourne and Sydney.
- "Any of these abuses we of course won't tolerate and don't tolerate," Smith told public broadcaster ABC, referring to the migration scams.
- "And the cracking down, so far as the migration agents' regulatory arrangements are concerned, will assist in that process."
- Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard slammed the attack on the female Indian journalist, who was physically assaulted in a Sydney street over the weekend while working undercover for ABC's "Four Corners" programme.
- Indian students last month protested in Melbourne and Sydney, following a series of attacks and muggings which strained diplomatic ties and prompted negative headlines in their home country.
- Some 95,000 Indians are studying in Australia following a publicity blitz targeting the huge country's growing middle class.
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