Monash University is building on-campus accommodation to house 1700 foreign students in their first year of study in Australia to provide them with greater security.

The units are being built at the university's Clayton campus in Melbourne's southeast in order to give the students better safety amid continuing concerns about violence and discrimination.

Professor Paul Komesaroff, who was a member of a forum on Tuesday organised by Global Reconciliation, said one of the major problems for students is that they travel late at night and are vulnerable.

"One of the principal actions that is readily available to the university is to provide them accommodation on campus," Prof Komesaroff told reporters.

"The idea is to build units for 1700 students to spend at least one year of their term in Australia on campus."

A recent survey conducted by Victoria University found safe accommodation was a major concern among overseas students.

The forum, which also included Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Mick Gooda and Indian students spokesman Gautam Gupta, pushed for multiracial police stations to be set up and for foreign student work restrictions to be lifted.

Mr Gupta said the Brumby government had to move faster and come out strongly in deploring racism.

"They need to put their money where their mouth is," he said.

"They need to put resources into addressing some of the issues."

He said a program such as the Quit Smoking campaign helped change the community's attitude towards smoking and the same could be done in regard to foreign students.

Earlier on Tuesday, an Indian community spokesman attacked the federal government for forking out $250,000 to bring Indian journalists to Australia at taxpayers' expense in a bid to mend a diplomatic row over violence against Indians.

Federation of Indian Associations of Victoria (FIAV) president Vasan Srinivasan says taxpayers' money should not be used for the junkets.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) is spending an estimated $250,000 in bringing 25 Indian journalists to Australia.

The trips have included business class flights, tours of the MCG, concert tickets and accommodation at top Melbourne hotels.

Mr Srinivasan, who heads FIAV, with a collective membership of about 80,000, told AAP the money would be better spent in Australia supporting international students.

"I don't know why our government is going down that pathway," he said on Tuesday.

"Why should we spend taxpayers' money when there is nothing to see?"

While he said there was a need to improve relations between Australia and India, the money should be given to the Victorian Multicultural Commission in support of students' welfare.

A DFAT spokeswoman said journalists from countries other than India, including Indonesia, were funded as part of the department's annual international media budget.

Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott says the $250,000 would be better spent on policing.

（www.eduwo.com, Anna）