Foreign student identities released to Australian police

The identities of half a million foreign students in Australia will reportedly be handed over to police across the country to determine if any attacks against them were racially motivated, Fairfax newspapers reported on Thursday.

Following a request from the Institute of Criminology, the Department of Immigration will release the names and ages of current and former students from China, India, South Korea, Malaysia and the U.S. to state and territory police.

The Institute of Criminology will use the information to investigate whether foreign students were more likely to be victims of crime than similarly aged Australians.

Source: Xinhua