Australian deputy PM to visit India

October 9th, 2009 MELBOURNE - US school children found it difficult to understand Australian Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard's accent, who is on a visit to the country to discuss green jobs and education. Gillard revealed that she had spoken to kids in a couple of schools but they were so dumbfounded by her thick Aussie accent that they enquired if English was spoken Down Under.

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 20th, 2009 SYDNEY - The premier of Australian state of Victoria John Brumby has cancelled his planned trip to Mumbai during his coming visit to India over fears of terrorism, media reports said Sunday. The premier's office released a statement Sunday that Brumby would spend more time in Delhi and not go ahead with the earlier planned Sep 23-24 trip to Mumbai.

September 2nd, 2009 NEW DELHI - Australia will improve its understanding of the Muslim world with the launch of Indian arm of the University of South Australia's International Centre for Muslim and Non-Muslim Understanding to leverage this country's experience in the area, visiting Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard said Wednesday. The goal was to "build a worldwide community of outstanding scholars with a commitment to understanding and exploring the cultural and sociological factors that influence Muslim and non-Muslim relationships," Gillard said at the launch of the centre Wednesday on the third day of her visit.

September 1st, 2009 NEW DELHI - Australian Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard Tuesday announced funding of $8.1 million for setting up the Australia-India Institute at the University of Melbourne. Gillard, who began her five-day visit to India Monday, said that Melbourne University, along with University of New South Wales and La Trobe University, will invest another $2 million to bring the total investment in the project to $10 million over the next three years.

August 31st, 2009 NEW DELHI - Australian Deputy Prime Minister Julian Gillard's condemnation of the alleged race attacks on Indian students drew mixed response from the students of the Delhi University with whom she interacted here Monday. While many called the Australian government's response to the attacks as sham, some said that it was more of a "media hype" and such incidents can take place in any part of the world.

August 31st, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Australian government would ensure that student victims of racist attacks either get a seat in a different college or are refunded the entire college fee, Australian Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard said here Monday. Gillard, who is on a five-day visit to India, was interacting with students of the Lady Shri Ram College.

August 26th, 2009 KATHMANDU - Nepal Foreign Minister Sujata Koirala has said that she failed to accompany Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal in his maiden visit to India purely due to health reasons. At the Nepali Congress Parliamentary Party office where she was summoned to furnish clarification as to why she dropped out of Prime Minister's visit to India, Koirala, said that there were no other intentions behind it other than the sudden illness she developed on the eve of departure.

August 21st, 2009 MELBOURNE - Australia's Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Julia Gillard will undertake a five-day visit of India from August 30. The visit is being seen as an effort on the part of Canberra to ramp up official efforts to rehabilitate Australia's reputation as a non-racist prime center of higher education on the sub-continent.

August 10th, 2009 MELBOURNE - External Affairs Minister S M Krishna on Monday asked the Australian Government to regulate the country's "dubious" private colleges, which are destroying the future of Indian students. "I think they (vocational colleges) are not only bringing a bad name to Australia but they are destroying the future of the younger generation of Indian students," The Australian quoted Krishna, as saying.

August 7th, 2009 MELBOURNE - Australia's Minister for Education Julia Gillard today announced that the Government will provide more than eight million dollars (Australian) to fund a new Australia India Institute at the University of Melbourne. The Institute will work to strengthen bilateral relations between Australia and India The Institute is a joint project of the University of Melbourne, La Trobe University and the University of New South Wales.

July 22nd, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Australian government is aware of the "real and deep concern" in India about the attacks on Indian students, Australia's Immigration and Citizenship Minister Chris Evans said here Wednesday. He said Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was likely to visit India later this year.

July 22nd, 2009 PHUKET - Ahead of Indian External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna's visit to Australia Aug 5, Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith Wednesday assured him that his government was doing everything possible to ensure the safety of nearly 100,000 Indian students in that country.

May 18th, 2009 SYDNEY - Australian bank WESTPAC has dispatched a strike team to India as part of an offshoring reconnaissance mission a week after the bank's chief, Gail Kelly, drew widespread praise for suspending the practice of sending jobs overseas. The Australian understands the bank's top technology executives have travelled around India over the past two weeks to meet with about eight outsourcing companies.

January 22nd, 2009 NEW DELHI - Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd Friday deferred his maiden visit to India, scheduled for Jan 27, after it became clear Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will not be able to hold talks with him due to a heart ailment. Manmohan Singh will undergo a coronary bypass surgery Saturday morning.