Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott says Victoria's street crime is racially motivated

Phillip Hudson February 18, 2010 12:00AM
FEDERAL Opposition Leader Tony Abbott says Victoria's street crime is racially motivated.
He hit out at Premier John Brumby and Police Commissioner Simon Overland for being "in denial".
 
Mr Abbott waded into the state arena to praise Victorian Liberal leader Ted Baillieu for his honesty and courage.
 
Mr Baillieu earlier this month said Victoria had serious problems with racist behaviour and racial violence, while Mr Brumby has repeatedly denied claims Victoria is racist.
 
"I don't think Australians are racist but certainly these attacks are racially motivated," Mr Abbott said on a visit to Victoria.
 
"They're part of a larger problem of unsafe streets which the Victorian Government has allowed to occur.
 
"For months, we had the Premier and the Police Commissioner in denial over violence in our streets, in particular violence targeted against Australians of Indian background or Indians living in Australia," he said.
 
Mr Abbott said he believed the huge swing against the State Government in the Altona by-election was "a tribute to Ted Baillieu's honesty and courage and readiness to speak the truth in the face of terrible obfuscation by the Government".
 
Mr Abbott said he was not saying Victorians were racist or that the state was the only place where these problems happened, "(but) there does seem to be a problem in Victoria at the moment with street crime, assaults; and there does seem to be a racial motivation to some of these".
 
Link : http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/federal-opposition-leader-tony-abbott-s...