India and Australia condemn student killing

[Violet_Crumble]

Source: BBC

The governments of India and Australia have condemned the killing of an Indian student in the Australian city of Melbourne on Saturday night.

Indian Foreign Minister SM Krishna urged the Australian authorities to "speedily book" the people responsible for the killing of Nitin Garg.

Mr Garg was stabbed to death on his way to a fast food restaurant in Melbourne.

There have been a number of attacks on Indian students in Australia in the past year.




Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8438868.stm

[Kurska]

1. The police need to treat this as a hate crime.

I hope the person is caught my heart goes out to the family. Things like this effect more then just individual it terrorizes entire communities.

[Violet_Crumble]

2. They certainly do if the murder was racially motivated...

There's no evidence one way or the other yet. He was walking alone through a park with no lighting in a bad part of Melbourne, so it could have just as easily been a random attack. Whichever it is, I hope they catch and throw the book at the murderer, and I feel so terrible for him and his family...

[pampango]

4. No evidence yet of a racial motivation, but there's a history of attacks on Indian students.

"2009 attacks on Indian students in Australia"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_attacks_on_Indian_students_in_Australia

"In May and June 2009, allegedly racially motivated attacks against Indian international students and a perceived poor response by the police sparked protests in Australia. Rallies were held in both Melbourne and Sydney. Impromptu street protests were held in Harris Park, a suburb of western Sydney with a large Indian population."

"During 2008 there were multiple notable attacks on Indian students, including a 23 year old catering student who had graduated from Brighton Institute of Technology and was assaulted by five people in the suburb of Sunshine, Melbourne, in December, 2008. The victim, in a coma, was admitted to Royal Melbourne Hospital in a serious condition. At the time, Victorian Police said that "Indians had long been over represented in robbery statistics." Five people were arrested and charged with attempted murder, robbery and serious assault.<9> Similarly, a 26 year old accounting student was left partially blinded after being assaulted by ten people in Sunshine, Melbourne, in March 2008,<10> and a 20 year old student was stabbed in the leg when his mobile phone was stolen.<10>"

"The former head of its elite Special Air Service (SAS) regiment and current National Security Adviser, Duncan Lewis, was charged with leading a taskforce to examine the attacks on Indian students. Lewis chaired the task force’s first meeting and coordinated Australia’s response to the assaults. The Victorian government is considering enacting hate crime legislation that would consider prejudicial motivation as a factor in sentencing.<67>"

"Reaction from the Australian population was generally sympathetic to the plight of the students.<69> The Australian foreign editor Greg Sheridan criticised as "pathetic" the response from a Victorian government ignorant to the serious economic and human dimensions of the assaults.<70> An editorial in the Geelong Advertiser suggested that education institutions should take more consideration of safeguarding student safety, and other factors including inadequate policing numbers and liquor licensing should be addressed.<71>"

[Violet_Crumble]

5. There's a history of attacks on people from any group...

I think there's a lot of media hysteria being drummed up and the Indian govt calling the murder a crime against humanity gives an indication of how OTT they're being about it right now...

[vadawg]

3. you do realise that its not going to make the arrest happen faster if they say its a hate crime

pretty much murder in cold blood like this doesent get more hateful.

[dugaresa]

6. how is the economy in Australia? is it bad? could it be a hate crime related to economics?

in any case it is wrong but i fear that the right wing in this country could potentially stir up this kind of violence here.

people without jobs who have been without jobs for a while will look for someone to blame and if their job was outsourced then they start to hate the people who took their job, not the corporation that moved it.

right wing groups like to capitalize on that hatred.

[treestar]

7. This student "took" a job?

I hate this kind of thinking.

[dugaresa]

8. i didn't say that did you read my post or just react to the first line?

sadly economic conditions bring out the worst in people. if the economy in Australia is bad then as it happens here in the US, there are folks who will take it out on others.

Australia has its own history of racial violence as well regarding the aboriginal folks and according to some of my coworkers from that part of the world it has not really gone away.

[whathehell]

9. Yup..For quite a few years they had a "Whites Only" policy in regard to Immigration. n/t

[depakid]

12. Yep- and during the same time period- Americans lynched their own citizens

among other things.

Talk about a case of Pot kettle black.

[whathehell]

14. No one is "calling" anyone anything...It's a simple statement of fact.

We ARE talking about Australia, aren't we?

Where did you get the idea that pointing out the faults of another country excuses those your own?
It doesn't and was never meant to....Sheesh:eyes:

[depakid]

15. You're talking about a policy from many decades ago

that has about as much relevance to this situation as your own civil rights abuses have to H-1b visa complaints or the bashing of Indians following 9-11.

Basically, it was gratuitous smack.

[whathehell]

16. I'm aware of that but I think you need to grow a thicker skin.

Judging by your post count, it seems you've been on this board long enough to realize that members frequently mention civil rights abuses and all manner of offenses perpetrated by our government going back almost to its inception.

There is no "statute of limitiations" for America here..Why would we have different rules for other countries?

[Violet_Crumble]

10. The economy's recovering faster than expected....

In this case, I doubt there was any racial motivation to the attack. There's no way in the world I'd walk through a park in that area after dark, and I think he was in the wrong place at the wrong time...

Having said that, there's no doubts at all that Australia has its fair share of RW racists, as does other countries, India included. I was reading the comments about this murder at news.com.au yesterday and some of the comments were sickening in the level of racism, both aimed at Indians and Australians...

[depakid]

13. Impressively so in many areas: Surge in job ads as firms expand

DESPERATE Sydney employers are feeding a job advertising boom over the traditionally quiet holiday break.

Figures supplied to the Herald by the Olivier recruitment group show ads for positions in NSW jumped a further 2.5 per cent in December after climbing 7.3 per cent in November.

The growth comes despite three consecutive interest rate rises and is way ahead of the national average. It increases the likelihood the NSW unemployment rate will fall below 6 per cent for the first time in a year when the official figures for December are released next week.

''NSW, Victoria, Western Australia and Tasmania are piling on job advertisements at a time when Queensland and South Australian employers are winding back,'' said a director of the group, Robert Olivier. ''National job advertising grew by just 0.5 per cent.'' The figures cover all three major internet employment sites. ''This is a positive welcome to Premier Kristina Keneally, who has promised to focus on jobs and investment.''

The chief executive of Drake Australia, Matthew Tukaki, said the usual December slowdown failed to arrive. ''Traditionally in December you see an increase in the hiring of casual labour and a slump in permanent hirings so employers don't have to bear the costs of holidays and carrying workers over summer.

''But this year the whole game plan has shifted. Businesses are getting in now to pull in permanent full-time workers before the talent pool shrinks and taking the risk that the economy will definitely recover.'' The Olivier figures show an 18 per cent surge in advertisements for advertising and media workers in December, and an 8 per cent jump in advertisements for construction workers. Demand for human resources specialists climbed 5 per cent.

''HR doesn't surprise me at all,'' Mr Tukaki said. ''Human resources and training and development roles are always among the first to be cut in a downturn. The firms that cut a year or so ago are scrambling to get those people back.''

More: http://www.smh.com.au/business/surge-in-job-ads-as-firms-expand-20100104-lq3q.html

[JI7]

11. "t:hey start to hate the people who took their job"

what job of theirs did the student "took" which caused hatred and murder against him ?