This month is all about mending the relationships between India and Australia. First it was Kevin Rudd, then Shane Warne, and now Stephen Smith, during his visit to India has affirmed that some of the attacks were racial in nature, which has provided ample damage to Australian reputation as a whole.
The minister on the facet that The Australian Institute of Criminology would soon provide reports on these attacks that would assist the Aussie government deal with these issues in a better way. He went on to elaborate that these attacks have a hint of racial tone which is really shameful and contemptible!
Canberra had earlier denied the involvement of any hint of racism in the spate of racial attacks that happened in Australia.
Smith commented that the government has worked immensely hard to address the whole issue. He commented that they need to be transparent towards the whole issue and affirmed that a lot of things would be performed in the future to portray the Aussie image in a better way.
He also said that applicants who work on part time are at greater risk. Therefore they should be careful while traveling in Australian premises, especially at night.
Earlier, various measures have been performed in attempt to mend the tensions created between the two nations, courtesy the racial attacks happening in Australia on a regular basis. It is true that the relationship has been hampered in a major way but that does not deprive Australia from gaining the position of being one of the applauded study destinations in the world!
In the end, Smith commented on strengthening the relationships between both the countries!
Racial attacks have done ample damage to Indian-Australian relationship! Now attempts are going on to fix these gaps. After Shane Warne, it’s the turn of Australian foreign minister Stephen Smith to ease out the tension further!
On his three day visit to India, the minister would meet his Indian counterpart SM Krishna, who has already shown his active participation in the whole issue. Apart from this much debated issue, the two Ministers would discuss the security concerns for the Commonwealth Games!
The Australian minister affirmed that both the ministers would have talks on solving the recent hurdles faced by Indian students and immigrants in Australia. He emphasized on maintaining a “Zero Tolerance” towards these attacks and providing assurance on Aussie’s keenness to handle these assaults on Indian students!
The Aussie minister said that he will acquaint the Indian government on various measures taken by the officials to maintain a safer ambiance for Indian students. His visit to India comes a month after his Indian counterpart expressed his concerned over the whole issue and the effect that it is having on the relationships of both the countries!
Courtesy the racial attacks, plenty of Australian delegates, including Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, official Julia Gillard and now Australian foreign minister Stephen Smith have visited India on a regular basis. These visits are surely aimed at easing out the tension between both the countries and building a foundation of a healthy relationship in future! The recent assaults have not only hurt Indian sentiments but also harmed the bilateral ties between both nations!
According to reports, Government of Australia is planning to come out with strict checks on applicants who come from nations applauded at high risk of terrorism. The new amendments would accommodate measures like collection of fingerprints, facial imaging data, to name a few.
The strict measures would keep terrorists away from seeking entry in Australia; Prime Minister Kevin Rudd confirmed the statement. He went on to say that Terrorism is one of permanent facets of Aussie security ambiance, confirming that the nation has become one of the soft targets, especially after the eminence of jihadist movement! However, the names of those countries which would be subjected to the new amendments have not come out in the limelight yet.
Cameron Murphy, president NSW Civil Liberties Council, feels that making the rules rigid and implementing imaging data would only lead to breaching the privacy of immigrants rather than fighting terrorism.
In addition to global jihadist movement, Australia face threats from those terrorists who are born and brought up in Aussie Land, the report confirmed. The report highlighted an incident where a judge sentenced five Aussie culprits for accumulating explosive goods to be used in criminal activities. Last year, five people were arrested for plotting an attack against Sydney military barracks. These, along with other occurrences, indicate that the Australia faces threats from overseas as well as homegrown terrorists.
Opposition leader Tony Abbott criticized the Rudd government for being too lax in acknowledging such issues. He said that the country surely faces security problems and the borders are totally out of control!
In another news piece, Australia has also tightened regulations for overseas students studying or intending to study in Australian colleges.
After two more Indians, aged 20 and 22, were attacked in Australia on 26th January, the Oz police arrested five people, hence proving their intentions to take quick actions against the culprits.
The Australia government has shown its concern for the recent spate of racial issues and has taken ample measures to stop them. Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s nephew, Van Thanh Rudd, recently took part in a protest in opposition to all these incidents happening against the Indians.
Immigration minister Chris Evans condemned these attacks and said that a bunch of idiots are responsible for executing these attacks on Indians.
Despite all these incidents, statistics point out towards the direction that India is the third most represented country when it comes to people getting citizenship in Australia. Other two countries are Britain and China.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, in a recent press conference in Adelaide, spoke on the recent flurry of attacks on Indians in Australia and termed them as “regrettable.”
He further asked the Indian government to keep an outlook on these attacks; a day after Indian Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna warned that failure to come out with any stringent security measure from Australian side may hamper the relations between the two countries.
Rudd stated that these are difficult matters for both the countries and the Australian government is working through them in a “practical and effective” manner. He went on to say that these incidents should be seen in a broader context, for instance, acts of violence against Australian students or students of other ethnic background, etc.
Also, a vast majority of applicants studying in Aussie premises are embraced by the Oz community and one should keep these things into its context before addressing the issue of attacks in Australia, he added.
The comments came immediately after Minister S.M. Krishna spoke on the issue of coming out with rigid security measures for the Indian students living in Australia. But are the words by Kevin Rudd enough to ensure the security of Indian students living in Australia? Despite all this, there has been NO seepage on the continuous racial attacks on the Indians!
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd expressed “sorry” in front of the whole nation. Almost 70 years back, up to 10,000 British children were shipped to Canada and Australia to enhance the “white stock” in Australia.
According to the British parliamentary report, the step was intended to “maintain the racial unity of the empire.” Some of them were taken from their premises without informing their parents and were promised a better future ahead.
The worst thing is that they were forced to work in some bad conditions after reaching their new home. Above all, some children were told that their parents are dead. The Child Migrant Programme was intended to offer a better future to disadvantaged children, but a majority of them were forced under labor.
Mr. Rudd apologized for this “ugly” deed by the country in the 1940s. He said that the country is extremely sorry for the emotional and physical sufferings that were embedded on those poor and innocent children that time. Tears came out flowing from his eyes, while he was uttering those words of apology.
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on his visit to India ensured that Indian students are safe in his country! He further explained that the Australian government is involved in taking all the “physically possible” steps for the safety of all the international students who come from all over the globe to study in Australia.
According to his statement, Indian students are welcome guests in their country and play a critical role in enhancing the “Bilateral Relationship” between the two countries. Rudd further added that students from India are the future of business ventures for both Australia as well as India.
He said that his country is looking forward to improve its engagements with India, which is calculated to be one of the strongest economies of the world in future. Rudd confirmed that the country wants its foreign students to stay together. Also, he is really “disgusted” with these racial attacks and would ensure that these incidents won’t happen again.
With assurance coming in from such a credible source, it seems that Australia is seriously involved in assuring the safety of International students in a major way!
Recently, the Australian Parliament witnessed a major debate between the Australian Prime Minister - Kevin Rudd and the Leader of Opposition – Malcolm Turnbull. The key area of discussion was the impact of the government’s immigration policies.
However, the Mr. Rudd feels that the situation is much better than what it was before during the previous government.
The debate came into the picture when a group of Sri Lankan illegal immigrants were caught trying to venture in to the Australian domains. It was intercepted by the Indonesian navy. More than 250 people at the Indonesian port of Merak. Of these, around 150 men refused to food and drink leading to a hunger strike. This was an urge to lead to a faster solution to their problem. The strike finally came to an end on 17th October.
Another similar instance was a boat found with 42 people seeking shelter on the west coast of Australia.
The above mentioned examples clearly sited the increase in the number of illegal immigrants trying to walk into the country via the Indonesian coastline. In order to stop such intrusion, the Australian Prime Minister is on a quest to negotiate an agreement with Jakarta to stop such transits by refugees.
Sydney, Sep 17: Kevin Rudd, Australian Prime Minister warned the Indian students to stay away from any parade after the remorseless racial attack on Indians recently in Melbourne.
Rudd further added that Australia is a law-abiding nation and every resident should adhere to the laws. He strictly elaborated that people should stay away from breaking any laws, especially after the fuel that has been created, courtesy the recent incidents between Oz and Indian citizens.
In a recent occurrence, three Indians were slammed by a group of more than 70 Aussies and were commanded to go back to their own country (read more Another Oz Racial Attack on Indians!). These attacks have caused a sense of clamor in India.
Again, it is worth thinking that is racism only prevalent in Australia? With people from different culture and religion living in India, is racism not a matter of concern in India too? Then why Australia always becomes the point of target every single time? In addition, why should an attack by few Oz demolish the reputation of the whole country? Australia has by now given and will continue to give plenty of opportunities to the Indian students – be it in the field of education, job, living options and so on.
Also, the regular concerns by Australian ministers are assuring that Australia is still one of the prospective countries to craft ones future. So, there is no need to panic!
