A joint project of the University of Melbourne, La Trobe University and the University of New South Wales, hopes to provide more than $8 million to set up a new Australia India Institute in Melbourne.
The move comes in the wake of dozens of attacks on Indian students in Australia over the past several months that has brought a measure of tension over bilateral relations between Australia and India.
Australia’s Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard said the new Institute would help Australians to know and understand India better and that Australia was working with India to strengthen its relationship in pursuit of many interests the two countries shared.
“As the world’s largest democracy and key emerging economy, India is redefining its role in international affairs. Its influence in our region and globally is growing. India is among the top 10 trading partners for Australia and economic relationship between the two countries has grown strongly in recent years. The Australian government is committed to building greater understanding between our two peoples,” she said in a communiqué.
Australia was keen that “uncertainty” created by the recent attacks on Indian students should end as various agencies, including the police, educational institutions, immigration and other departments, was working to put an end to fraud and other practices against which Indian students had been protesting not only to visiting Indian officials, including the foreign minister, but also to the media.
Australia has been reiterating zero tolerance for racist attacks on international students in general and Indian students in particular. There are close to 100,000 Indian students are in Australia. Most of them are in the state of Victoria, where many of the attacks have been reported.