Australia 'overwhelmingly' safe for Indian students: Gillard

Chennai, Sept 3 (PTI) Australian Deputy Prime Minister
Julia Gillard Thursday said there was no reduction in the
number of Indian students seeking to study in her country in
the wake of the recent attacks and claimed it remained
"overwhelmingly safe" for them.

"Australia remained overwhelmingly safe and welcoming
and any Indian visiting the country can expect a warm
welcome," she told reporters here.

Replying to questions on the attacks on Indian
students, she said like any other country in the world,
instances of crime were present in Australia also but said the
government had a "zero tolerance" policy towards such
incidents.

Policing measures had been increased in Melbourne and
Sydney from where the incidents were reported.

To a question, she said all international education
institutions in the country had to re-register following a set
of quality norms and this was being done to ensure the
"highest level of quality and benchmark".

During her current visit to India, it has been decided
to organise an annual ministerial level meeting which would
broaden and deepen the "existing strong relationship in
education and research," she said. (More) PTI SA
ANU