In a move that denotes intent on the part of the Australian government to get to the root of the problem of violent attacks on Indian students, a former member of Parliament has been given the responsibility of overhauling its $15.5 billion international education industry.

"Shonky operators face their reckoning," said former Liberal MP Bruce Baird, as he embarked on his mission to downsize an industry afflicted with attacks on students and allegations of corruption.

In a recent exposition of the future of the effort, Baird said some educational institutions had been set up for the sole purpose of getting students permanent residency visas.
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He said Australia's Immigration Minister Chris Evans would review the law regulation and rules governing the nation's international education industry, which he described as a "market failure."

For Cryin' Out Loud: Shah Rukh Khan's unhappy experience with the US immigrant authorities has found an echo Down Under

The visa scams are rooted in dubious education institutions and migration and education agents taking advantage of a policy change by the previous (John Howard) government in 2001 to allow overseas students in Australia to apply for permanent residency as skilled immigrants.

Baird is known to have cordial relations with the Indian community in Australia. He said he would speak with police about the violent attacks on Indians in Sydney and Melbourne being racially motivated, as well as the general safety and wellbeing of students.

He is expected to submit an interim report by November.

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New South Wales premier Nathan Rees launched a festival of food, art, music and entertainment called Crave Sydney last Wednesday.

The centrepiece of the festival, which will run throughout October, will be Breakfast On The Bridge, in which Sydney's landmark Bridge will be transformed into a breakfast venue, with all residents of the state having the chance to enter a draw to attend the breakfast.

"Sydney Harbour Bridge will be closed for traffic and open for breakfast," Rees said of the event scheduled for October 25.

"In all, 6,000 people will have the opportunity to spend a lazy Sunday on one of the world's most recognisable icons.
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Images from Breakfast On The Bridge will be beamed around the world, showcasing again why Sydney is Australia's No 1 destination," he said.

Crave Sydney is expected to generate more than Aus$6 million (Rs 24 crore) in its first year. It will include events such as a Seven Bridges Walk, a harbour fiesta and a two-day comedy festival on an offshore island.

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Even as the din in India over actor Shah Rukh Khan's unhappy experience with the US immigrant authorities found an echo Down Under, a reader's letter to the Sydney Morning Herald provided an insight into how others
see us.

He wrote: "Any country that considers 'the ability to avoid being frisked at an airport as a status symbol does not have the right to question another country's state of mind."

Offensive chauvinism aside, one cannot deny that the reference to our obsession with status symbols is on
the mark.