By Simon Lauder (The World Today) – ABC News
Ted Baillieu - Leader of the Victorian Liberal Opposition (photo: ABC News)
ELEANOR HALL: Staying in Victoria, the Government is accusing the State’s Opposition Leader of exacerbating Victoria’s image problem in India.
In a lengthy speech to the Australia India Business Council last night the Liberal leader Ted Baillieu accused the State Government of not taking the attacks against Indians seriously enough.
But the State Government says Mr Baillieu’s speech paints Victoria as a state full of racists.
Simon Lauder has our report.
SIMON LAUDER: A by-election in the safe Labor seat of Altona four days from now is giving Victoria’s Government and Opposition a warm-up to November’s state election.
Last night was a chance for the Opposition Leader, Ted Baillieu, to lay out his credentials in law and order.
TED BAILLIEU: The issue is violence. The issue is racist behaviour. The issue is the potential collapse of the student market and the issue is very much looking after the victims, not blaming the victims.
SIMON LAUDER: Mr Baillieu told a meeting with Australian and Indian business leaders there’s been a collapse of law and order in Victoria, the State Government has been in denial for years and doesn’t have the leadership to make Melbourne a safe city again.
Mr Baillieu says there’s been a 70 per cent increase in the number of assaults in Victoria since 1999 and the Government hasn’t done enough about it.
The pitch appealed not only to anti-violence sentiments but was also for those who believe recent attacks on Indian students are racially motivated.
TED BAILLIEU: I am not going to allow our state to become a community divided where people live afraid to leave their house at night, wherein Indian, Chinese or African man or woman is afraid to ride on public transport lest they be assaulted and I am not going to allow this state to become one where only the strong survive and for criminals, thugs and those engaging in racist behaviour, we have a very simple message for you – under a Baillieu government, it is over.
SIMON LAUDER: The speech has raised the ire of a government which has been forced to deny time and time again that Victoria has a problem with racist violence.
The Youth Affairs Minister, James Merlino, has accused Mr Baillieu of throwing fuel on the fire.
JAMES MERLINO: I think this is, it is a disgraceful speech. Last night Mr Baillieu comprehensively failed to stand up for Victoria and to defend Victoria’s image. In fact he rubbished Victoria’s image and said that we are basically a racist society and we absolutely disagree with that and I think all Victorians would.
SIMON LAUDER: Mr Baillieu stands by his comments this morning and during his speech he also made it clear he’s not accusing his fellow Victorians of racism.
TED BAILLIEU: We are not a racist country and we are not a racist society but we do have individuals whose racist behaviour is creating fear and terror for many.
SIMON LAUDER: Denials of a racist motive in attacks on Indian students have only been a catalyst for the controversy and have been met with a severe backlash in reporting by the Indian media.
Mr Baillieu used his speech to attack Victoria Police for at times denying that racism is a factor and for advising Indian students to keep a lower profile.
TED BAILLIEU: And messages from Victoria Police which are confusing and at best counter-productive and at worst possibly offensive, have not helped.
SIMON LAUDER: The president of Victoria’s Indian Federation, Vasan Srinivasan, says he doesn’t believe racism is a major factor.
VASAN SRINIVASAN: I have been around India and came back. This is a media beat up. I don’t see this as a racist attacks on Indian students alone.
SIMON LAUDER: The Victorian president of the Australia India Business Council, Harish Rao, says he doesn’t believe Mr Baillieu has overplayed the race card.
HARISH RAO: Oh, he was actually very well received. I don’t… there were no adverse comments really against it from any of the people.
SIMON LAUDER: Did you get any impression at all that Mr Baillieu was exaggerating?
HARISH RAO: Look, I think there may always be some political side to these sort of speeches however I think he was portraying quite a realistic view in some instances of what is happening here in Victoria.
What he was trying to convey is that we need to be upfront about the problem and admit that there is a problem and then people are far more accepting of the situation and say okay, well let’s see how we can then solve this problem.
SIMON LAUDER: So do you back Mr Baillieu’s call for the State Government to take this problem more seriously and do you agree that they haven’t acknowledged it as much as they should have?
HARISH RAO: Well, I believe that this problem has been brewing for the last four years. The problem still hasn’t been addressed and it seems to be getting worse. In that sense I think government really needs to start, I know the Government is doing a lot but they still need to do a lot more to fix this problem.
ELEANOR HALL: Harish Rao is the Victorian president of the Australia India Business Council. He was speaking to Simon Lauder.
In order to listen to the audio on the Full Story report please follow this link
Related AGORA reports we recommend:
