why the aussies hate us

Van Thanh Rudd's comments are especially damaging because rightly or wrongly his relationship to the PM will lend his views more creedence in India. The "dominant culture in Australia is a racist culture"...garbage! I do think some Indians are being targeted but it's a matter of getting more police on the streets and cracking down on street violence...it has been too lax over the past few years and is now out of hand.




IT'S A magazine cover that will make the hearts of Australian university bosses and diplomats sink.

"Why the Aussies hate us" screams the front cover of this week's influential Indian news magazine, Outlook.

The 10 pages of coverage inside has stories of young Indian victims of violence and racial abuse and describes how Indian students in Melbourne feel afraid on the streets.

Kevin Rudd's nephew and anti-racism activist, Van Thanh Rudd, told Outlook the "dominant culture in Australia is a racist culture" and that he had no doubt the attacks had been racially motivated.

The magazine claims to have found "evidence that 'curry-bashing' is becoming a fun game for white Australians".

Outlook, a centre-left news weekly published in Delhi, is one of India's top selling English language magazines, with a circulation of about 1.5 million and a large online audience.

Outlook's special report is the latest in a stream of negative publicity about violence against Indians that has done terrible damage to Australia's reputation. With each attack, no matter what the circumstances, Australia's image takes another blow.

There are signs the Indian Government is becoming increasingly impatient with Australia's response to the crisis. External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna met Foreign Minister Stephen Smith twice in London last week to discuss the problem.

An Indian Government statement said Mr Krishna told Mr Smith it was becoming increasingly difficult to accept that the attacks were devoid of any racial motives, and complained there "has been no visible progress so far into most of the investigations into previous attacks, including in the fatal murder of Nitin Garg [last month]".

Editor-in-chief of Outlook Vinod Mehta strongly defended the coverage and denied allegations that the Indian media were over-reacting to the attacks or exaggerating the danger to Indians in Australia.

"We sent two correspondents to Australia and they found that an overwhelming number of these incidents were racial and that Indians in Australia live in fear," he told The Age.

"There is tremendous outrage in this country. I don't think the Australians realise that."

Mehta said one reason for the anger was the "smug and superior attitude of the Australian Government for denying there was racism and then telling Indians not to hype this up".

The Outlook story included comments by right-wing groups in Australia. Jim Saleam, NSW head of anti-immigration party Australia First, said Indians were "becoming a serious threat to white Australians in the job market". Bob Vinnicombe of One Nation said the Government "should actively encourage bringing in Christians and white people from Zimbabwe and South Africa".

Reports about attacks on Indian students in Australia last year have already contributed to a sharp fall in the number of Indians applying for student visas. The fresh flurry of negative publicity this year threatens to cause additional damage to Australia's $15 billion a year international education industry.