Violence in suburban Australia towards Asian immigrants and students, notably from India, is disturbing. Sadly, it's not a new issue, not confined to Sydney and Melbourne, and by no means targeted at Indians. It's a bigger problem, and one that is being misreported in the Indian media and underreported by their Australian counterparts.

Semantic arguments over whether these attacks are racist miss the point. They are, for the most part, racist, though in a mindless, broadly xenophobic fashion. From what I have gathered about events there is no indication of any organised actions in the suburbs against any particular national or racial group.

When police say, as was quoted after last night's alleged attack on two Indian men by three Lebanese men in Harris Park, that the attack was "not racially motivated", then I think "motivated" is probably the operative word. Young people from overseas who have come to Australia to study and don't speak English as a first language are often seen as a "soft target" by thugs after money or valuables.

Australia has a variety of racially-based problems that need fixing. The primary issue here is one of maintaining law and order. The police forces of, in particular, New South Wales and Victoria have an important task on their hands in keeping the peace and bringing these criminals to justice. It's all the more sensitive because the world, especially India, is watching.

What can the rest of we Australians do? It's time to make it loud and clear that the youth of the world are welcome to come and work and study here. Maybe it's time we did more to encourage and protect international students who come here - the welfare of overseas students is a concern that was brought up at one of the rallies last week. And our pollies need to demonstrate respect for these students as people, not just as a "multi-million dollar export industry" that needs protecting for the economy's sake.

Here is a media release from the New South Wales Police about last night's incident at Harris Park. These reports from the Newcastle Herald and the ABC indicate a broader perspective to the problem of violence towards international students.