Australia taking steps to check attacks on Indians: PM

ON BOARD AIR INDIA ONE - Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Saturday said he has been assured by Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard that corrective steps were being taken in the backdrop of attacks on Indian students there.

During their meeting held on the sidelines of the India-ASEAN Summit in Hanoi, Gillard expressed the general revulsion in Australian society to what is happening (attacks on Indian students), the prime minister told journalists on his way home from Vietnam at the end of a three-nation Asian tour.

The Australian prime minister explained about what they were doing on the issue, including revising their immigration system, he said.

There had been a string of attacks on Indian students in Australia, causing outrage in India. The assaults took place in Melbourne as well in Sydney. One of the attacks proved fatal when a student, Nitin Garg, was knifed in January.