This week has seen tensions between Australia and India escalate, following yet another attack on an international student. Indian authorities have issued a travel warning about increased violence in Melbourne. The Australian Government is in damage control.

While police investigations into the fatal attack of accounting graduate Nitin Garg in Melbourne and the discovery of the body of an unidentified Indian student in NSW are ongoing, the motives behind these attacks remain unclear.

What is certain however is that there is growing disquiet about the way our international guests have been treated. Yet, our Deputy PM, and the acting Premier of Victoria have been quick to dismiss the possibility that racism may have been a factor in why these young people were targeted, attacked and killed.

While it's too soon to determine exactly what happened, to simply rule out the possibility that racism was involved is neither good leadership nor smart diplomacy in an environment of increased violence.

Most Australians have no objection to equal marriage. They recognise that same-sex relationships should have the same legal and social recognition as opposite-sex relationships and this means the right to marry. In fact, according to a Galaxy poll earlier this year, three in five Australians support the right of same-sex couples to marry, with 60 per cent arguing that Australian law should recognise same-sex marriages that are legal in other countries.

Unfortunately, our Parliament is lagging behind and our Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is still clinging to the stale mantra of his predecessor, that marriage "is between a man and a woman."

This 1950s thinking seems to be based on the tired argument that marriage is somehow weakened if it's extended to same-sex partnerships. But surely the institution of marriage is strengthened by greater inclusion, not exclusion? Certainly that's the experience overseas, where same-sex marriage has been legislated for without the sky falling in.

As someone who moved to Adelaide for university, I agree that this city has the potential to be the educational hub of Australia, for both domestic and international students. It has three great universities, is easy to get around, and boasts an affordable cost of living. Adelaide is already attracting some numbers of students from overseas, but if we want to see more choosing to come here for a positive study experience, we have to make sure that we get things right in our international education sector. Right now, it needs a good clean-up.

Educating international students is our third-biggest export at $15 billion per year. In 2008, the number of international students in Australia passed the half-million mark – a jump of 21 per cent in a year - with about 90,000 of these hailing from India.

While the Government has been happy to see the dollars roll in from international students, it’s turned a blind eye to what’s been going on in parts of the sector for some time. A lack of compliance with regulations and government scrutiny has led to an embarrassing groundswell of scams, rip-offs and exploitation – although it wasn’t until the violent attacks on international students in Melbourne and Sydney started hitting the front pages of Australian and Indian newspapers in mid-May that the Government seemed to sit up and take notice.

By that stage, the Greens had already called for a Senate Inquiry into the welfare of international students, which I successfully established on June 16. As a result, the Senate’s Education, Employment and Workplace Relations References Committee will look at issues including, but not limited to, student safety, accommodation, social inclusion, visa requirements, student support and advocacy, employment rights, and quality benchmarks and controls in the international education sector.