Australia’s streets are not safe for Indians, need better policing: Oz opposition leader

MELBOURNE - Australian Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has said the recent attacks on Indian students in Melbourne shows how unsafe the city is and called for better policing.

Abbott also said the Government’s decision for bringing 25 Indian journalists to visit Australia could be avoided, and the money spent on law enforcement.

“Our streets aren’t safe, particularly the streets of Melbourne, which appear to have been pretty seriously under-policed,” The Herald Sun quoted Abbott, as saying.

“If you didn’t have these racially motivated bashings in unsafe streets we wouldn’t have the PR problem, so let’s go to the heart of the matter. I think it would be much better spending the money on better policing of our streets because that’s the basic problem,” he added.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, through its international media visits budget, will be paying flight and five-star accommodation bills of 10,000 dollars each for 25 Indian reporters to take tours of Australia, focusing on Melbourne.

The journalists will be provided luxury accommodation at top Melbourne hotels, tours of the Melbourne Cricket Ground and concert tickets.

The comfort and entertainment being lavished on the journalists, and the tightly scripted itinerary, is designed to cover up the attacks on Indian students that have seen the Indian media portray Melbourne as racist and sparked a diplomatic crisis. (ANI)