Melbourne:
Australia's top police officials ignored the frequent attacks on overseas students, mostly Indians, even though Prime Minster Kevin Rudd and other politicians promised prompt action against the culprits, according to a Freedom of Information (FOI) query.
Neither the regular meetings held between late 2008 to June 2 last year nor the supporting Senior Officers Group did discuss students security issues, a media report said on Wednesday.
"The attacks were not discussed at the Ministerial Council for Police and Emergency Management in the 17 months to last November," Attorney General's department was quoted as saying by '
The Australian'.
The Police Ministers Council did not meet specifically on the attacks "as the issue was the subject of a special task force established by the Prime Minister", a spokesman of Home Affairs was quoted as saying by the paper.
State and territory police agencies attended meetings of the Prime Minister's task force, which met regularly for six weeks from June last year, he said. Despite requests, Home Affairs declined to say whether the task force had produced a report, or to give an account of activities and achievements.
"It's extraordinary, given what we know was going on at the time," said Mark Briskey, head of the Australian Graduate School of Policing at Charles Sturt University, adding that Australia and India should jointly investigate against criminals involved in visa and document frauds to better protect overseas students.