Police investigate video of Australian woman 'carrying out racist tirade' on busy commuter train

Australian broadcaster Ninemsn have reportedly identified the woman as 55-year-old Sue Wilkins

The perpetrator Wilkins says that she was ashamed of what she had said (Youtube)

Australian police are investigating a video which appears to show a middle-aged woman launching into a tirade of racist abuse towards a fellow traveller on an Australian Central Coast train between Newcastle and Sydney.

The video which was uploaded onto YouTube yesterday shows the woman insult passengers on a packed commuter train after a group of children refused to give up their seats for her.

Following their refusal, the woman begins to shout in the kid’s faces, asking them whether their “mother ever taught them any manners?” and calls one the children an “impolite boy.”

The tirade then becomes more volatile as other travellers spring to the defence of the children and start lambasting the woman for her rudeness.

One man tells the woman to “shut up” and the woman reacts by saying, “he’s too lazy to jerk off, he can only get a gook for a girlfriend.”

When the lady she is referring to gets involved, the abusive woman then mocks her for her Asian accent and says: “what’s wrong with Hong Kong? Why did you come to this country?”

Believing the woman of Asian descent to be the girlfriend of one of the men that questions her behaviour, she begins to shout “bogan” at him and saying it is a “sad” that he "can’t get" a non-Asian girlfriend.

Warning: Contains racist slurs that readers may find offensive

Following the upload New South Wales Police said they “take incidents such as this very seriously,” and have already launched an investigation to try to confirm the identity of the woman.

They have also called on witnesses who may have been on the train to come forward.

Transport for NSW tweeted: “We won’t tolerate threats to customers. We’ll work with @nswpolice to ensure customers feel safe on every journey.”

According to broadcaster Ninemsn, they have identified the perpetrator as 55-year-old Sue Wilkins.

In an interview with the broadcaster, Wilkins said that “it was not nice what she said to the lady” and agreed that “she shouldn’t be saying that to other people.”

Nevertheless, she did admit that some of her reaction could have been down to the stress she was under trying to find work in her native Australia, after a failed relationship with a Dutch man saw her scammed for $100,000.

According to Wilkins she had travelled to Holland to live with the man she met on a dating website but the relationship broke down and she was now back home desperately trying to find work.

She did say that despite the stress she was under “it was no excuse” and said “she was horrified with herself.”

So far the video has received over 40,000 views on YouTube and has caused outrage across Australia with social media networks rife with condemnation.

It has even seen New South Wales’ Deputy Premier Andrew Stoner comment on the incident, saying the woman’s comments were “appalling”, “unacceptable” and urged the police to “make appropriate charges where applicable.”