AUSTRALIA VOWS TO CRACKDOWN SCAM TARGETING INDIAN STUDENTS
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.
ATTACKS ON INDIANS TRIGGERED VIOLENCE
A series of unprovoked attacks on Indians in Australian cities including stabbings and a fire-bombing is ballooning into a serious diplomatic issue that has now involved the prime ministers of both countries.
The beatings have been reported extensively by the Indian media and have the potential to damage Australia's standing in Asia, where the racism of the former White Australia immigration policy has never been forgotten.
They have also triggered violence in the streets of Melbourne during a
protest that shut down a key city intersection until early yesterday morning.
Courtesy: NZ Herald
The beatings have been reported extensively by the Indian media and have the potential to damage Australia's standing in Asia, where the racism of the former White Australia immigration policy has never been forgotten.
They have also triggered violence in the streets of Melbourne during a
protest that shut down a key city intersection until early yesterday morning.The sudden eruption has taken Australia by surprise, although reports of racism and "curry-bashing" have been circulating for months and have led to internet warnings to students not to study in Australian schools and universities.
The warnings and the spate of attacks have alarmed officials who have overseen the growth of education to become Australia's third-biggest source of export income, with the number of Indian students doubling in the past three years to become a A$2 billion-a-year industry.Courtesy: NZ Herald
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