Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—On Friday, I spoke to Prime Minister Singh of India. I had sought to speak to him to congratulate him on his election victory. The Prime Minister is a friend of Australia and an inspiring leader for his own nation, India. The Australian government welcomes his historic second-term victory. The election itself was another reminder of India’s achievements as the world’s largest democracy. I look forward to working with Prime Minister Singh in the years ahead as we take our relationship with India to the front rank of our own international relations. We have many common interests—those of history, those of the present and those of the future—as two Indian Ocean democracies. We work closely together in the G20 and in other global councils. We, of course, also have strong community links. The more than 200,000 strong Indian community in Australia has a long history of remarkable contribution to our nation.

Today I want to touch on some recent unfortunate events that have threatened to impair those good relations. In recent months, there have been a number of attacks on young Indians studying or working in Australia—in particular, three recent attacks in Melbourne involving six young Indians. In fact, there is a much wider problem of urban violence in various parts of some of our larger cities. I speak on behalf of all Australians when I say that we deplore and condemn these attacks. These are senseless acts of violence. Those who carry out these attacks stand condemned. When I spoke to Prime Minister Singh, we discussed these recent deplorable events as well. I said to Prime Minister Singh that the more than 90,000 Indian students in Australia are welcome guests in our country. I also said that the more than 200,000 Australians of Indian descent are welcome members of the Australian family. I said that the Commonwealth government was working closely with state governments to ensure that the perpetrators of these crimes are brought to justice and that government agencies are responding to these crimes to protect all students and others in our community.

Australia is a country of great diversity, harmony and tolerance. We are a multicultural nation and we respect and embrace diversity—diversity which has enriched our nation, Australia. That is why these recent acts of violence are all the more deplorable. They are equally unacceptable and deserve to be met with the full force of the law. On Friday, the Minister for Foreign Affairs spoke to his counterpart, External Affairs Minister Krishna, about these matters and assured him of the seriousness with which the Australian government is addressing these matters. The Deputy Prime Minister outlined last week steps the government will be taking to respond to the specific concerns of international students. We will work closely with the states to implement these measures as a matter of urgency.

The Australian government is committed to developing a stronger, closer relationship with India. That is the message I delivered to Prime Minister Singh in our discussion on Friday. The Australian government is also committed to the safety of all Australians and all those who visit our nation.

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