Australians (as a nation) are no more racist than any other country, including India which, by the way, has a long, sad history of classism (ie discrimination based on social class) which is also alive and well in England. I have been to India a couple of times and love the culture (and its people), however, I think it is very hypocritical of those in India to point a finger at Melbourne when the crimes against some of the Indian students were clearly based on criminal intent (robbery). The unfortunate Indian students were (sadly) in the wrong place at the wrong time. Australia (like every other nation on this planet) is not perfect, however, it still is a multicultural success story. This country is known as "the land of immigrants" who have come to this land from every corner of the world and, for the most part, have settled in and made a success of their lives (provided they did not choose to bring the biases and hatreds of their homeland with them). England has a long history of racist attacks (by skinheads) and America has its history marred by the KKK (and other racist-based groups). Some of the most racist countries in the world are Asian countries like Japan and China whose demographies remain incredibly homogeneous and its system of trade relations singularly xenophobic. Clearly, it would be very wise for countries (outside Australia) to clean up their own backyard before pointing a finger at us - Australia still remains as one of the most tolerant, flexible and progressive nations on earth with a standard of living that is the envy of the world. If this was not the case, then we would not have so many thousands of people (from all over the world) desperately trying to reach our shores.