Australia enduring foreign policy catastrophe and it's all because of one man

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

AUSTRALIA is enduring a catastrophe in its foreign policy and its standing in the world generally, and it is predominantly the fault of the Victorian Premier, John Brumby. Perhaps no premier since World War II has done more to damage the Australian national interest than Brumby.

Through the widely publicised assaults, murders and arson attacks on Indians and Indian houses of worship, Melbourne has become the racist-violence capital of Australia.

Brumby's reaction of indolent denial, and the incompetent lack of response from his government and police force, have contributed hugely to a vast anti-Australian backlash in India. But this is happening throughout Asia and more broadly internationally. The BBC, CNN, Al-Jazeera - all are covering the attacks in a way that would constitute hundreds of billions of dollars worth of negative publicity for Australia.

...

The issue moved to new heights following the stabbing death of Indian student Nitin Garg in early January. There is now a raging, anti-Australian fury in India that cuts across any party or political or even communal divides. Australia has never been so hated in India and in much of Asia.

This is a bitter moment for the Rudd government. It is not responsible for the Melbourne attacks and it can't fix the relationship until they stop.

Last week in London, India's Foreign Minister, S.M. Krishna, twice met Foreign Minister Stephen Smith to express his government's dismay. Krishna said it was "becoming increasingly difficult to accept these attacks are mere opportunistic crime and devoid of any racial motives".

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Following an arson attack on a Sikh temple in Melbourne, the Victorian police, with the same mixture of banality and idiocy which has characterised the Brumby approach to this issue, said there was no evidence of racial or religious motivation in the attack.

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Australia has longed for attention in Asia, but not this kind of attention.

Following publication of Singh's damning judgment on the Victorian government, Brumby went even further into his know-nothing, admit-nothing, do-nothing defensive crouch, saying, bizarrely, that: "Assaults on Indian students are under-represented as a population share."

It was only a little while ago that the Victorian police claimed they did not keep statistics on the ethnicity of crime victims.

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In fact, Victorian crime statistics are a joke. Last year the Victorian Ombudsman issued a scathing report, Crime Statistics and Police Numbers, in which he demonstrated massive, systematic under-reporting of crime.

It is also the case that Victoria has by far the smallest police force in Australia, per capita.

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So far, the issue has done massive damage to Australia's public standing in India. It is now moving into the stage where it will do serious damage to the bilateral relationship and to business. In the last couple of weeks two Australian companies which had expected to sign contracts in India were told their commercial partners no longer wanted to deal with Australian companies.

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Brumby seems to have leapt with delight on isolated cases where it turns out an Indian was the perpetrator of a crime, or where a crime has been falsely reported. As if such a pathetic, dismal response is a substitute for leadership. Brumby has emerged as a narrow, provincial politician of very grave limitations.

The solution to the problem is not exactly rocket science. Melbourne needs a lot more police deployed in the danger zones a lot more often. But to do that Brumby would have to admit there is a problem. Here's a suggestion for the Victorian Premier - if he abolished the police force altogether, then no crimes would be reported and he could claim he had achieved the lowest crime rates in the world.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opini...o-1225827256803

[spookyturtle 9,466]

And I thought it was going to be BY.

[luckytxn 2,264]

Nice going Aussies.

[scandal 951]

Australia is the best country in the world. It's a proven fact. The OP is just a pack of lies. I have dozens of international surveys to say so. Don't argue with me, because I'm right and you're an #######.