Student issue is 'hot issue', says new Oz envoy to India

MELBOURNE: Ahead of assuming charge as Canberra's envoy to New Delhi, Indo-Australian Peter Varghese today described the attacks on Indian students here as "a hot issue" and said it is more complicated than just being a racial problem.

"Sure student issue is a hot issue. We won't be able to ignore it and I don't want to ignore it. Something that needs to be resolved and explained. I will be doing what I can," he told PTI in an interview as External Affairs Minister S M Krishna kicked off a 5-day visit here with the student attacks high on his agenda.

Varghese, who replaces Australian High Commissioner John McCarthy in New Delhi later this month, also strongly refuted that Australia was racist.

"No I don't (think Australia is racist). I think if you look at the way Australia has changed in the last 20-30 years you will get a sense of the country which is when tested is open to accepting people from a wide range of backgrounds and from cultures and races. I consider it to be the most multi-cultural society," he said.

Australian society was free to accept people on their face value and deal with them as an individual rather than based their race, he said.

Varghese, who also served as Australia's spy chief, said the student issue is a more complicated set of issue rather than just being racist attacks, some of which were linked with each other.