Melbourne, June 21: Earlier this week, a mafia lord was gunned down in broad daylight in a Melbourne cafe. It was the 30th such inter-gang warfare slaying in Melbourne in seven years, and a stark exposure of the city’s underbelly. Despite this and the pressing engagements on his time, Victoria Police chief commissioner Simon Overland sat down for an exclusive interview to address issues relating to the recent wave of attacks on Indian students in Victoria.
The attacks on Indian students have raged for months. Why are the police unable to end it?
Ten years ago, robberies were primarily done on banks and businesses. We stopped that. They then moved from ‘hard targets’ to ‘softer targets’ – stores, supermarkets, petrol stations. We stopped that too. Now, we’re seeing street robberies, and typically international students are victims. We’ve been responding to that for about two years. It’s taking us a while to get on top of it, but in the western suburbs of Melbourne, where we’ve been focussed on the longest, the numbers are decreasing over the last 12 months. The challenge is to have that happen right across the state.
Why have Indian students been overrepresented as victims of these robberies?
It’s not just Indian students; Chinese students too are overrepresented. But Indian students are vulnerable for many reasons. Some of these attacks are motivated by racist elements. But a lot of it goes back to issues of vulnerability. Indian students live in very poor areas because they need low-cost housing. Many of them are struggling financially. They need to study and work. They work casual jobs, which take them late into the night.
Initially, you rejected the notion that these were “racist” attacks.
I’ve never rejected that. I’ve always said that undoubtedly some of it is about racism, but equally a lot of them are opportunistic. But I’ve also made the point that it doesn’t matter, violence is wrong, and we need to stop it.
Would better policing have averted the attacks?
Better policing has resulted in significant reductions in crime. But it’s not always about policing.With the Indian students and other international students, there are other issues that need to be dealt with. We can’t solve this by ourselves. There are a lot of issues here, and they’re not within my control.
Were the events of the past fortnight a wake-up call for the Victoria Police?
We didn’t need to wake up. We were the first ones to recognise this problem. There’s always a lag around putting measures in place and achieving the outcomes you want to achieve. I don’t think there has been a proper acknowledgement of all the work that has been done or is being done.
Indian students are carrying pepper spray and chilli powder in self-defence. Does this reflect a loss of confidence in the police?
Some of the lack of confidence is not well-founded and arises from misinformation or lack of understanding of everything that has been done and is continuing to be done.
One of your officers blamed Indian students for “talking loudly in their native language”.
We need to be very careful about race. Australia is a very diverse community, and there are challenges that come with that. But blaming the victim is not helpful. What we need to say is: there are issues that we need to work on with the community.
Do Indian students give you trouble?
We do sometimes have Indian offenders – but then we have offenders from every race and culture that comes to Australia. But most of the offences are done by white people… By and large, the Indian population and the Indian student population are very peaceful, law-abiding and responsible.
Indian students say that when they go and report a crime, the local constabulary is dismissive.
I do accept there are some problems, but I don’t accept a general proposition that we haven’t responded effectively.
Australia’s image as a destination for Indian students has been dented by the crimes against Indians, particularly in Melbourne, under your watch…
Victoria and Melbourne continue to be very safe communities by world standards. The problem is the perception, and the way perception is generated through the media primarily, and through crises like these. I don’t think Indian media coverage has been fair and balanced. Some of the individual cases are shocking, but they have been sensationalised.
–Agencies