Victoria Police vetting delays university report on racism

Natasha Chaku
Melbourne, Feb 10 (PTI) An Australian university research
paper providing new evidence that Indian students here feel
racially targeted has been delayed for over two months by
Victoria Police as it took time to vet its findings.
The police was given 60 days to review the report's
findings, delaying its release from November last year to
February 16.
The project was launched in June last year in what
the university termed at the time as a fast-track attempt to
gather survey and interview evidence from students and
community stakeholders.
The delays were seen as frustrating for some researchers
targeting an early December release, 'The Australian'
newspaper quoted a source as saying.
However, Victoria University (VU) said its decision to
wait for police approval was important as police participation
had resulted in a more comprehensive and detailed report.
VU acting vice-chancellor Linda Rosenman said the
university would have preferred to release the report earlier
but felt it was important to have the police participate.
"There was never any pressure on Victoria University
to amend or alter our findings," she said.
Gautam Gupta, founder of the Federation of Indian
Students of Australia, described the delay as unfortunate and
suspicious in an environment where the police and government
have been criticised for not more openly acknowledging racism
as a factor in the violence. (MORE) PTI