Australia 'disgusted' over attacks on Indians: Deputy prime minister

Without making an excuse for the recent spate of violence against Indians, Australia has said that the feedback received from the half-a-million strong Indian student community has been "positive".

Deputy prime minister Julia Gillard was qouted by an AAP report that despite the recent spate of violence, generally the feedback received from the nearly half-a-million Indian students was positive towards the country, but that did not excuse the incidents.

She acknowledged that parents whose children are studying in Australia must be worried about their children.

"We're absolutely disgusted with some of the violent incidents we've seen involving Indian students," she said adding "There have clearly been policing problems and the Victorian and NSW police particularly have been responding.

"She said the government was working with the police and various education outlets to educate students before they come to Australia and to ensure there is regulation of the outlets that send students to the country.

She was speaking in Adelaide where Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd hosted an event yesterday evening that attracted about 500 people to the Norwood Morialta High School.

The report said that her comments followed after one of the crowd members was the former president of the Indian Association in South Australia who raised a query of what the country would do to stop the growing problem of violence against Indian students.