Plea to attack intolerance

WHEN Sri Lankan Kanchana Wickramasinghe arrived in Melbourne in 2005 to study, he did not think twice about travelling late at night.

WHEN Sri Lankan Kanchana Wickramasinghe arrived in Melbourne in 2005 to study, he did not think twice about travelling late at night.

But now, with Melbourne's law and order problems, and warnings from his college to be more careful, he is much less comfortable about living in the city. "I am not going on public transport as much," he said.

Australian Learning, Training and Education Centre head Pankaj Goel said he did not believe increasing police numbers-- which Mr Brumby had already announced-- would solve the problem.

While he said the $685m the Brumby government had directed to putting 1966 additional police on the streets would "improve security" for international students, it would have been better to divert money to education programs to help combat intolerance.