Aus plans to tighten immigration rules

The move assumes significance in the context of continuing attacks on Indian students,several of which have been described as racial in colour.

“…..On the other set of issues we have been putting a lot of effort into integrity issues and what we are determined to do is to ensure that people who are trying to go to Australia to study are genuine students and are not looking for a back door to work,” Australian High Commissioner Peter Varghese said.

One consequence of that extra effort,he said was that that they were putting into this integrity measures that would result in an increase in the number of cases of education applications rejected’ “It will be because either we have concluded that the real,intention is not to study and we are satisfied that the documentation is not authentic and is fraud.” He said Australia was a country of high migration and they would always be looking for migrants who have skills that are in short supply in Australia.

About 100,000 Indians are currently studying in Australia.

“We are working through them (the cases) in a practical and effective way over time,” Rudd said.

“The truth is this: the vast majority of Indian students in Australia are embraced entirely by the Australian community,get on with their business of studying hard,getting their qualifications and going off to do whatever they want to do with their lives,” he said.

Meanwhile,23-year-old student-cum-cabbie Ravinder Singh,who was stabbed in the chest outside his girlfriend’s house in December,said he would never drive a cab again after being attacked by an armed robber despite handing over all his cash.

“I was scared,” he told reporters. “He (the assailant) kept saying like: ‘Give me your wallet,give me your wallet,give me your wallet’.” Singh,who came to Australia three years ago to study auto mechanics,said he quickly handed over about 70 or 80 dollars from his pocket to the masked man but the offender still plunged a knife deep into his chest,puncturing his right lung,AAP reported.

The youth spent two weeks in a critical condition in hospital after the December 9 attack on Collier Street in West Brunswick.

Conceding that there were “some” racist attacks on Indian students in Australia,Victorian police chief,meanwhile,cautioned against “hysterical” response to such assaults as this could lead to more violence.