In another shocking daylight attack, a young Indian woman journalist, who went undercover to expose alleged migration and education scams in Australia, was threatened and punched by an unidentified person outside her office here.
The woman, working as a reporter with ABC TV, was trailed near her office over the weekend. Someone ran behind her and hit her hard, a colleague said.
A spokesperson of the ABC Network told PTI that the reporter is now "safe and sound". However, the official refused to divulge the identity of the woman scribe citing security reasons.
The reporter was threatened while making her programme 'Four Corners' related to the alleged scams, the channel said.
The attack on the scribe comes close on the heels of racially motivated assaults on 22 Indian students in diferent Australian cities in over a month.
"She was physically assaulted when someone hit her body, quite brutally, from behind and her attacker then ran away," the programme's Executive Director Mark Bannerman said.
"We immediately reported it to the police and they are treating the incident very seriously. As yet no formal investigation has been launched but they are looking at the matter and taking down all the details," he said.
In an article on its website, ABC said the reporter went to two different migration agents posing as a customer wanting to pass an English Language Test without having the skills and told them that she was willing to buy a fake work certificate.
She was asked to dish out an amount between $3,000 and $5,000, the report said.
The report said it was not clear whether the migration agents or the colleges identified in the 'Four Corners' programme were behind either the threats or the attack.
Australian Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard condemned the assault, terming it "corwardly" and "abhorrent".
"Any attack like that which has been reported is cowardly and completely abhorrent. An attack seemingly on a journalist working for ABC News going about their work is particularly disturbing," she said.
A colleague of the Indian journalist said she was getting "threatening calls" and was "assaulted in broad daylight on the street when nobody was around".
"She was walking the street and somebody ran up behind her and hit her hard on the back and she was shocked and upset and disturbed," Wendy Carlisle, a correspondent of ABC News, said.
Wendy said it appeared that the attacker was an Indian. There was no word from the police on it.
The last attack on Indians took place about a fourtnight back when three students were assaulted in Sydney and Adelaide.
The attacks have continued notwithstanding assurances from the Australian government that they would crack down on the miscreants and ensure that the country remains a safe destination for foreign students.
