Assuring international students, including those from India, of their safety and security in Australia, Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard has said she was open to the idea of establishing a student advisory body to look into their concerns.
Inaugurating a two-day International Student Roundtable Conference in Canberra yesterday, Gillard said the government was taking necessary steps to protect overseas students and that parents had every right to be concerned by the spate of attacks on their children. The conference comes in the backdrop of a spate of racially-motivated attacks on Indian students in several Australian cities.
"When you're talking about these grossly objectionable, violent incidents, you're talking about a number of less than 10 and we are talking about around 100,000 Indian students in the country," she said yesterday at a International student roundtable conference in Canberra.
"But I can understand why, having seen even one incident - mums and dads having sent their sons and daughters far from home to study would be concerned. We're responding to those concerns," she said.
"Your willingness to participate and communicate your ideas will make a real difference," Gillard told the students. Their views will feed straight into COAG deliberations on how to boost the international student experience, she said.
The Deputy Prime Minister said the government had already implemented several measures to help international students, including boosting policing and setting up a complaints hotline.
"Legislation presently before parliament also requires education providers to re-register in order to weed out any shonky practitioners," she was quoted as saying by local media.
"I would clearly like to see one of the outcomes of this international students roundtable being the views of students on how they best have a voice into the future."
National Union of Students president David Barrow said it was time the government walked the "walk on international student rights".
"This government is renowned for its countless reviews, taskforces and roundtables," he said adding that "this must be backed up with action.
Meanwhile, Australian Greens senator Sarah Hanson- Young called for the creation of an independent Education Commission which would function as a one-stop-shop for international students needing assistance in Australia.
She said the commission should oversee improvements to the international education sector in three key areas: immigration requirements, quality benchmarks and monitoring and compliance.
