Indian students to be briefed on Australian violence

Jeff Waters

Last Updated: Thu, 28 May 2009 14:17:00 +1000

An Australian police officer is to travel to India to brief prospective foreign students about how to avoid street violence if they come to study in Australia.

Police community liaison officer Senior Constable Victor Robb says his advice will mainly cover "crime prevention, safety strategy tips".

"Probably much the same sort of information I would give my own daughter if she was going overseas," he adds.

The initiative, sponsored by Victoria University in Melbourne, comes after a wave of attacks on international students, largely those from India.

Increase in violence

Australia has about 400,000 foreign students, with a large proportion from the subcontinent.

The numbers saw a 40 per cent rise last year.

Melbourne has seen a big increase in violent attacks on Indian students - the most recent only this month, when seven men set upon a 21-year-old male student on a suburban train.

Victoria University's vice-president for international students, Andrew Holloway, says the attacks are not racist, but reflect the fact that Indian students often have part-time jobs that entail them using public transport late at night.

But Nazeem Hussain, director of the Islamic Council of Victoria, says he is disappointed more is not being done to help the visitors and stop the attacks.

"The core issue is racism . . . we are seeing not as much from the police as we would probably have expected," Mr Hussain says.