It certainly seems so, especially with the visiting Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith, for the first ever time acknowledging that the attacks made on Indian students in Australia were racist in nature. Up until now, the Government had been trying to pass these on as everyday theft crimes, and the very huge possibility that these were hate attacks was being hushed up.

But on Wednesday, Mr. Smith 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".

Finally, it looks like that the authorities in Australia are trying to mend some broken fences and the hurt to trust and credibility that the country has recently suffered.

Reports have confirmed that over the recent months, more than 150 attacks against Indians have been recorded, and most have been directed at taxi drivers and students.

So let's look at this the first every step towards trying to improve the situation. Maybe now something will be done to offer proper protection to the vulnerable population.

Australia is one of the most frequented countries for Indian, for vacationing, studying and employment most of all, and it is important that the Government there should assume responsibility of ensuring that all the foreign nationals are safe, especially Indians in light of them becoming the latest targets for foul play and deadly attacks.

Something needs to be done now, before the situation worsens. As Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd points out that the attacks on Indians should be viewed in context of "the broader incidences of violence to students of other ethnic backgrounds, acts of violence against Australian students".