Prime Minister of Australia
12 June 2009
Interview with David Koch and Melissa Doyle - Sunrise - Seven Network - Sydney
Excerpts
DOYLE: Email from Richard. There’s a lot of tension on the streets of Melbourne and Sydney involving Indian students. Richard asks, he wants to know how you plan to clear the air?
PM: Well, as I said I think a couple of days ago in Melbourne, I think it’s time for everyone just to take a deep breath and just calm down. I mean there’s too much action and reaction. As I said the other day, any violence against any student in Australia, foreign or domestic, Indian or wherever, is completely unacceptable.
It’s equally unacceptable for anyone else to take the law into their own hands. Australia, I’m advised in the statistics is one of the safest places in the world for foreign students, international students to study. Let’s put all of that into context. If you’re a student in London, you’re a student in New York, there’s always a possibility that you’re going to run into violence on the streets.
DOYLE: These pictures are going everywhere. What do we do? How do we stop this happening apart from just taking a step back? Do you think it’s something we all stop talking and will end naturally or –
PM: Media make their own decisions and I have never been in the business of telling you guys what you should do. That’s fine. Objectively I’m just conveying to you what is the underlying statistical data. This is one of the safest environments in the world. And obviously there are going to be people on various sides of the debate who have a bit of an interest in kicking this along. I understand that. Obviously, there is also a problem in terms of individual students who’ve being attacked. Let's work our way through it calmly and methodically.
As I indicated the other day, in the last decade or so in India, we’ve had something like 20 Australians who’ve either been murdered or the subject of sexual assault or other forms of assault. Well, these things happen in large cities where you’ve got, you know, where you’ve got evidence on a continuing basis of violence in urban communities. So let's just put it into context. Let’s work our way through it, work with the student bodies. Julia Gillard’s been doing some great work there. But everyone should just take a deep breath.
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