Australian minister tries to mend fences

The visiting Australian foreign minister, Stephen Smith, on Wednesday acknowledged that some of the attacks on Indians in Australia over the past year were racist in nature. Smith, in India on a damage-control visit, told journalists, ‘‘We know that a number of these assaults are racist. These are absolutely contemptible. We are doing a range of things to better portray modern Australia. We want to underline the strength of relationship between India and Australia.''

Smith also spoke to students at St Stephen's College assuring them that the Australian government was doing everything to bring the guilty to book and ensure that acts of such racist violence were not repeated. 

Source : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Australian-minister-tries-to-mend-fences/articleshow/5638565.cms