Sydney, July 28 - Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith has said the government 'won't tolerate' any education and migration scam affecting foreign students, after such a scam was exposed by an undercover Indian reporter who was assaulted over the weekend.

Speaking from Singapore on the ABC's Australia Network, Smith said: 'Of course it's very concerning... On the migration front, when we were in opposition we did express significant concerns about the regulation of migration agents, and as a consequence of that we've recently seen a migration regulatory authority come into existence to regulate that industry better.

'But any of these abuses we, of course, won't tolerate and don't tolerate. And the cracking down so far as the migration agents' regulatory arrangements are concerned will assist in that process.'

Smith was responding to ABC television's Four Corners programme that highlighted the unscrupulous practices of some agents who deal with foreign students.

The Indian journalist who was trying to expose the scam was assaulted in Sydney. After the incident, police and immigration officials Monday raided the office of an agent allegedly involved in exploiting foreign students.

'The woman was subjected to threats during the making of the programme and attacked over the weekend. Police have been notified,' ABC Online said Monday. The journalist was not identified by name.

The reporter had gone to two migration agents posing as someone wanting to pass an English language test without having the skills and told them that she was willing to buy fake work certificates.

She learnt she could do both if she paid between $3,000 and $5,000.

Executive producer of ABC news Mark Bannerman told Times Now: 'We began a pretty hefty investigation and the use of an undercover reporter... What we uncovered was a range of scandals within the industry.'

Bannerman said the undercover reporter received phone threats indicating that 'she would not be safe'.

'Then on the weekend she was actually physically attacked on the street.