Australia one of safest countries in world for students: Rudd

September 27th, 2009 MELBOURNE - Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd met his India counterpart Dr. Manmohan Singh to discuss the recent violent attacks against Indian students studying in Australia, and also to apprise him of action taken against the perpetrators of these attacks.

September 25th, 2009 PITTSBURGH - Starting his day early, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh held bilateral meetings with his counterparts from three countries on the margins of the G20 Summit here Friday. His first meeting was with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown at 7.30 a.m.

September 21st, 2009 SYDNEY - Kim Beazley, who will take up the position of Australian Ambassador to the United States in February 2010, has said that Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and US president Barack Obama are unlikely to become close mates. Beazley, a keen student of US politics, reckons that it's not Obama's style to pick close mates from among world leaders.

September 17th, 2009 CANBERRA - Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has warned Indian students living in Australia not to take the law into their own hands. The local Indian community has been told to take "some form of retaliation" following the assault of four men outside a bar in Melbourne on the weekend, reports The Age.

August 7th, 2009 Chaku Cairns (Australia): Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on Friday assured, the visiting Indian External Affairs Minister S. M. Krishna that all steps would be taken to ensure the safety and security of Indian students in his country.

July 22nd, 2009 MELBOURNE - Over 40,000 students who were expected to gain permanent residency in Australia, may now not qualify because of recent policy changes, a demographic researcher has estimated. The Rudd Government has removed most vocational trades, including plumbing, welding and carpentry from its skills priority list, making it harder for international students with those qualifications to gain permanent residency.

July 8th, 2009 PUTRAJAYA - Despite a series of racially motivated attacks on Indian students in the country, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has assured foreigners that his country is a safe place to study. Referring to the recent attacks or "curry bashings", he said, "In every city in the world, unfortunately, there are going to be acts of violence from time to time." The Star Online quoted him, as claiming that he was not playing down the issue, and "one act of violence is one too many; one death is one too many," and added that his government welcomed foreign students and took their security "very seriously".

June 24th, 2009 CANBERRA - Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd Wednesday said that he would do everything possible to maximise security and step up measures for international students following a wave of savage attacks on Indian students that have caused an outrage. Any assault against any person is one assault too many.

June 11th, 2009 SYDNEY - In the face of Indians here alleging racial attacks, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd Wednesday asserted that Australia is one of the "safest places in the world" for foreign students. He also warned against revenge attacks after reports of vigilante-like groups being formed in Melbourne and Sydney.

June 10th, 2009 SYDNEY - The unending attacks on Indian students in Australia are a "regrettable fact of urban life", Prime Minister Kevin Rudd Wednesday, warning Indians not to avenge the assaults on them. "The truth is, in our cities right across the country, there are acts of violence every day," Rudd was quoted in newspaper Australian as saying.

June 10th, 2009 MELBOURNE - Melbourne police will saturate western suburbs train stations to combat robberies targeting Indian students, even as Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Victoria Premier John Brumby issued an appeal for community calm. Victoria's Chief Police Commissioner Simon Overland said police would target Sunshine, St Albans and Thomastown train stations.

June 9th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Tuesday said his Australian counterpart Kevin Rudd had assured him that racial attacks on Indians in that country would be "strongly dealt with". "I have already spoken to the prime minister of Australia and he has assured me that any racial attack would be strongly dealt with," Manmohan Singh said in parliament, while replying to the debate on the president's address.

June 2nd, 2009 SYDNEY - Indian nationals living in Australia have expressed deep concern over the manner in which the Indian media has covered the recent Australian assaults on students and many consider this reporting "irresponsible" This comes as the Indian media is doing exclusive coverage of the Australian attacks and has been extensively rebuking the country for being a racist. "There is a problem with Indian media and Indian leadership - they can't assess a situation in a rational way.

May 26th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Sol Trujillo, former boss of telecommunications company Telstra, has said that being in Australia was like "stepping back in time" as it was a racist country. According to a report in The Daily Telegraph, after a four-year stint as Telstra CEO which earnt him about 31 million dollars, Trujillo has been quick to pour scorn on the Rudd Government since leaving Australia 10 days ago.

April 29th, 2009 Australia to send 280 more troops to AfghanistanCANBERRA, Australia — Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says Australia will send 280 additional troops to Afghanistan, increasing the overall Australian deployment there to about 1,380. It is the first increase by Australia — the biggest contributor to the U.S.-led coalition outside NATO — since Rudd took office in 2007.