Gillard Refuses to Comment on Student Attacks

123jump.com Staff
03 Jun, 2009
New York City

Australian government is not forthcoming with details of steps taken to protect the security of Indian students. As many as 20 students have been attacked in less than three months and Deputy Prime Minister has not made any statement in the last six days.

[R]8:30 PM New York – Australian government is not forthcoming with details of steps taken to protect the security of Indian students. As many as 20 students have been attacked in less than three months and Deputy Prime Minister has not made any statement in the last six days.[/R]

Australia continues to be the focus of international press after a group of Indian students were attacked in the last week of May which may have racial motives. It is not clear so far but overwhelming number of attacks in the last six months involves Indian students.

Indian students held a rally last week protesting weak support from the local police and lack of attention from university staff.

Deputy Prime Minister’s Office Deny to Talk

The lack of sensitivity regarding student attacks, racially motivated or otherwise, was very evident when calls were made by 123jump.com to Education Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

First the calls were diverted and after persistent calls to the office, 123jump.com was referred to assistant Leanne Budd. Ms Budd directed us to a statement that was published on the Web site of Deputy Prime Minister Gillard that is now six-day old and since then at least one more attack has been reported in the Australian media.

After persistent calls and two emails, we received a reply from the Press Secretary Kimberly Gardiner that also directed us to the statement made by the Prime Minister Rudd to the Australian Parliament and the same six-day old statement by the Deputy Prime Minister.

None of these statements lay out any specific steps taken by the Australian government but they do show a concern to the safety of students.

The only thing that the Prime Minister Rudd noted in his speech other than diplomatic language was that, “The Commonwealth government 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.”

There are no concrete steps other than simple assurances.

Press Secretary Stone Walls

Later in another call to Ms. Kimberly Gardiner, Press Secretary to Ms Gillard, said that the there are more “urgent matters that she has to attend” and Ms Gillard is not available for comments.

When asked if Deputy Prime Minister will be available for comments at any other time, we were clearly told in no uncertain tone that Deputy Prime Minister and Gardiner have “other important jobs to attend.”

When Gardiner was asked if it is more important to assure safety of foreign students and assure the public safety of their lives, she replied with a simple answer, “I am busy with my job.”

When asked what specific steps are taken to solve these problems, Gardiner said, “Your accusations are false” and the government steps are explained in the statements that were made to the Australian Parliament by the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister.

When asked are there additional police assigned to patrol streets, what are the statistics of the crime against students and what steps are taken to prevent future attacks; Gardiner failed to respond and disconnected the communication line.

It is not clear if the response from the Press Secretary reflects the attitude of the Australian government.

But a detail review of the Australian media suggests that the Australian government is apparently treating this matter as if it will go away and is not willing to assure the public with specific steps.

Ms Gardiner appears to believe that if you stone wall media requests long enough the questions will go away.

The government appears to have little concern for the safety of Indian students attending Australian universities. Only two people have been arrested following last week's attacks and the Deputy Prime Minister's office hasn't spoken to the matter in a week.

Australia’s Third Largest Export

Australia has close to 440,000 foreign students with more than 90,000 from India. These foreign students are contributing A$15.5 billion to local economy. Australia has still to explain what specific steps the government is taking to protect lives of foreign students no just Indian students.

Australian media reports suggest that Indian students have very little confidence in police and government as most of the pleas in the last six months have been ignored.

Australian police has yet to solve the near fatal attack on Shravan Kumar last month and a recent attack on Baljinder Singh.

According to Sydney Morning Herald in an article published today in the Opinion section authored by Miranda Devine, Indian student leaders indicated at least 20 other Indian students have been attacked in last one month.

Cosmetic Steps from the Prime Minister

Australian Prime Minister in a letter published on his Web site notes that a hotline is available to provide support to Indian students who are victims of crime.

The number 1 800 342 800 is staffed by volunteers who are fluent in English and Hindi.

However, when 123jump.com contacted this number from Melbourne and later from Sydney, we were on hold for more than ten minutes each time.

Apparently Ms Gardiner was not even aware of this hot line.


Reporting by 123jump.com staff in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia and Los Angeles, California and Miami, Florida and Mumbai, India.