Victorian Premier seeks meeting with Indian envoy over attacks

With India stepping up pressure on Australia to take effective steps to halt the attacks on Indians here,Victorian Premier John Brumby on Thursday sought another meeting with the Indian High Commissioner.

With India stepping up pressure on Australia to take effective steps to halt the attacks on Indians here,Victorian Premier John Brumby on Thursday sought another meeting with the Indian High Commissioner Sujata Singh,who warned of long-term consequences unless more action was taken to prevent the violence against the community.

Ahead of Singh’s visit to New Delhi to brief the leadership on attacks on Indians in Australia and the follow up actions taken by Canberra,Brumby said he wanted to brief her on the steps taken by his government to halt the violence against the community.

Brumby said he would brief Singh on the progress that had been made,including boosting police patrols in high risk areas like railway stations and toughening up police powers to search for weapons. I will be able to inform her of all of these things and again to reassure her that Victoria is a much safer place than other places in Australia and indeed around the world,he said.

Over 100 cases of attacks on Indians have been reported since the last year in Australia,mostly in Victoria,and the issue has been taken up by top representatives of the Indian government with their Australian counterparts.