Victorian Premier John Brumby has suggested the state's top cop's advice to Indian students to "dress poorer" to avoid crime was a comment about high crime areas.
Chief Commissioner Simon Overland is reported to have told an international students' safety forum in Melbourne on Saturday that Indian students could make themselves less of a target if they dressed poorer.
Asked about this, Mr Brumby said he had not heard the comments.
"He may have been making the point that in some areas, there are higher crime rates than in others," the premier told Network Ten on Sunday.
He added he and the police commissioner condemned in the strongest possible terms "acts of violence, and particularly any violence which is racially motivated".
Mr Overland told the forum there is a disparity between perceptions and the facts about crimes against Indian people, saying Melbourne's permanent Indian population was not over-represented in crime statistics.
AAP
