MELBOURNE - Australia Tuesday vowed to crack down on migration scams targeting Indian students and condemned a "cowardly" attack on a female reporter who exposed the racket.

Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said Australia was tightening regulations on migration agents after a current affairs TV programme exposed rip-offs exploiting students who have fuelled a booming international education sector.

The revelations are the latest to damage the sector - worth an annual A$15.5 billion (S$18.35 billion) and Australia's third largest export earner - after a series of violent attacks on Indian students in Melbourne and Sydney.

"Any of these abuses we of course won't tolerate and don't tolerate," Smith told public broadcaster ABC, referring to the migration scams.

"And the cracking down, so far as the migration agents' regulatory arrangements are concerned will assist in that process."

Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard slammed the attack on the Indian journalist, who was assaulted in Sydney at the weekend while was working undercover for the ABC's 'Four Corners' programme.

"Any attack like that which has been reported is cowardly and completely abhorrent," Gillard said.

The expose, screened late Monday, found some Indian families went broke after sending children to Australia for courses that failed to deliver any educational value.

It said hundreds of private colleges offering courses such as hairdressing, cooking and accounting had sprung up, luring students with false promises of permanent residency in Australia.

'Four Corners' said migration agents told the undercover reporter she could buy a a fake English language certificate needed to gain residency for between A$3,000 and A$5,000.

The Australian Council for Private Education and Training has said it would launch a register of education agents to help students find honest providers.

Indian students earlier protested in Melbourne and Sydney following a series of attacks which strained diplomatic ties and prompted negative headlines in their home country.