FOI suggests Oz police underrated attacks on Indian students

Natasha Chaku
Melbourne, Jan 20 (PTI) Australia's top police officials
ignored the frequent attacks on overseas students, mostly
Indians, even though Prime Minster Kevin Rudd and other
politicians promised prompt action against the culprits,
according to a Freedom of Information (FOI) query.

Neither the regular meetings held between late 2008 to
June 2 last year nor the supporting Senior Officers Group did
discuss students security issues, a media report said
Wednesday.
"The attacks were not discussed at the Ministerial
Council for Police and Emergency Management in the 17 months
to last November," Attorney General's department was quoted as
saying by 'The Australian'.
The Police Ministers Council did not meet specifically
on the attacks "as the issue was the subject of a special task
force established by the Prime Minister", a spokesman of Home
Affairs was quoted as saying by the paper.
State and territory police agencies attended meetings of
the Prime Minister's task force, which met regularly for six
weeks from June last year, he said. Despite requests, Home
Affairs declined to say whether the task force had produced a
report, or to give an account of activities and achievements.
"It's extraordinary, given what we know was going on at
the time," said Mark Briskey, head of the Australian Graduate
School of Policing at Charles Sturt University, adding that
Australia and India should jointly investigate against
criminals involved in visa and document frauds to better
protect overseas students. MORE PTI NC
RDM


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