Statement from Minister for Disability Services and Multicultural Affairs - The Honourable Annastacia Palaszczuk

29 January, 2010

Government appoints community liaison officer to local Indian Students

THE Bligh Government has appointed local Indian community leader Umesh Chandra as liaison officer to Queensland's Indian student population.

Multicultural Affairs Minister Annastacia Palaszczuk said Mr Chandra's appointment was part of a whole-of-government effort to support the State's 20,000 Indian students.

"Umesh Chandra is well-respected in Queensland's Indian community, and he'll play a key role in our engagement strategy with the local Indian community," she said.

"We want to use his standing to ensure that Queensland's Indian students know they can count on the support of the Bligh Government.

"This is about sending out a very clear message that Queensland is a safe and welcoming place for Indian students.

"They make a tremendous contribution to the State's cultural and economic life, and I want to assure all Indian students and visitors to Queensland that they're welcome here."

Mr Chandra is President of the Global Organisation of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO - Brisbane - Qld), Publisher of Brisbane Indian Times and Vice-President of the Federation of Indian Communities in Queensland.

Ms Palaszczuk said the appointment of a community liaison officer was first raised by local Indian community leaders.

"The Bligh Government will continue to work closely with Queensland's Indian community," she said.

 

 

Anger at funeral of Indian student

THERE were scenes of grief mixed with anger at the funeral of Nitin Garg at his home in Jagraon in the northern Indian state of Punjab, as well over 600 people came to pay their last respects.

Women, including Mr Garg's mother, wept and wailed loudly. Male relatives and family friends tried to console the women while also trying to maintain some semblance of order as the mourners pushed to touch his coffin.

A picture of Mr Garg on his graduation day lay on top of the coffin at his home.

''How can such a young boy, who had his whole life in front of him, be murdered like a dog?'' said an uncle, Avtar Singh.

There were also calls for action. ''All we want is that no other family should suffer this loss and that no other Indian student in Australia should lose his life,'' said another uncle, Satish Kumar. ''The Indian Government must act to stop this madness.''

Mr Garg, 21, died after he was stabbed in Melbourne's western suburbs nine days ago while walking through a park to his workplace late at night.

Police are investigating an attack on another Indian man, Jaspreet Singh, 29, who is in a serious condition in a Melbourne hospital with burns to 15 per cent of his body. Mr Singh said he was doused with petrol and set alight by a group of four males after he parked his car near his home in Essendon about 2am on Saturday. There was no evidence the attack was racially motivated, police said.

Yesterday the Indian Government called for increased efforts to curb violent attacks and an end to the exploitation of students in Australia by dodgy colleges and greedy employers.

The Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs, Vayalar Ravi, said Australia should also crack down on unscrupulous college operators, and employers who paid students less than the minimum wage.

He said Australian police were quick to arrest students for visa violations, such as working more than the allowed 20 hours a week during term time, but did little to catch those exploiting them.

''If the Government can be so strict in arresting the students who work more than 20 hours because they are violating the law, why can't they arrest the employer who is not paying the minimum wage?''

Mr Ravi also said the Government was trying to ''control'' the numbers of students enrolling at dodgy Australian colleges just so they could apply for permanent residency. He did not elaborate.

Student visa applications from India fell by nearly half between July and October compared with the corresponding period in 2008.

The Herald revealed last year that senior Australian government officials were concerned about widespread rackets among private trade colleges undermining Australia's education, immigration and employment systems.

More than 500 Indian nationals were refused student visas in the three months to September because of bogus financial documents, said the Department of Immigration and Citizenship.

The acting Trade Minister, Simon Crean, said he was pleased the Indian Government had urged its media to show restraint when alleging racial motivation for violence against Indians in Australia.

Sushi Das is in India as a guest of the Indian Government.

Indian media told to show restraint after latest assault in Australia

AS an Indian man recovers in hospital after allegedly being attacked and set alight in Melbourne on Saturday, the Indian foreign ministry warned that the Indian media's aggressive coverage of recent violence could have a bearing on relations between the two countries. Vishnu Prakash, Foreign Ministry spokesman, called on the local media to "exercise utmost restraint".

On 8 January, the Australian Government was forced to defend police after an Indian newspaper published a cartoon depicting a policeman as a member of the Ku Klux Klan.

The cartoon, which shows a person wearing the white robes of the KKK and an Australian police badge, reads: "We are yet to ascertain the nature of the crime."

The Australian Government today welcomed India's move to temper anger over the attacks, which come after a spate of assaults on Indian students in the middle of last year.

"I am very pleased that overnight the Government has issued what I believe is a very constructive and responsible advice and that is not to overreact to it, to understand that investigations are being undertaken," said Simon Crean, the acting Trade Minister.

"We need to get all of the facts first and we shouldn't overreact until all of the facts are in."

The attacks last year sparked street protests and strained relations between Canberra and Delhi. The Australian Prime Minister visited India in November to reassure the Indian Government that its students were safe in Australia, as the growing row threatened Australia's lucrative education trade with India.

The number of Indian students in Australia has rocketed in the past few years, since the Australian Government offered permanent residency to overseas students enrolled at Australian colleges. PR, as it is commonly known, has spawned a vast overseas education industry worth $15 billion to Australia, $2.3 billion of which comes from India alone.

Although Australian police have said that the crimes were not racially motivated, Australia's High Commissioner to India, Peter Varghese, admitted that race might have been a motive for some of the attacks, particularly where the attackers engaged in racial abuse.

His admission came shortly after the Indian Government issued a travel advisory for Indian students travelling to Australia, warning them of an increased risk of assault, especially in Melbourne.

Mr Crean reiterated that there was no evidence to suggest that the recent attacks were racist.

"I think it is important in terms of the two most recent events that it is not only the Victorian police saying that there is no evidence in either case that the murder and then the subsequent attack were racially based.

"I think it is also important in terms of the most recent incident, that a relative of Mr Singh ... also doesn't believe that it was racially based," he said.

There is some uncertainty over the incident involving Mr Singh, which Detective Acting Senior Sergeant Neil Smyth described as "a bit strange".

He said there was no evidence that it was racially motivated.

A police source told Fairfax Media: "there are things that don't add up in the initial reports".

A police spokeswoman said that the investigation was ongoing and that the first task was always to establish whether a crime had occurred.

Source: The Age & Times Online

Farewell … relatives of Nitin Garg at his funeral in Jagraon yesterday. Photo: Reuters