In Brief with Lisa Singh — CEO Australia India Institute

3 January 2022

We are delighted to conduct our first interview of the year with Lisa Singh — CEO of the Australia India Institute. Ms Singh is a former Australian Senator and was the first female MP of South Asian descent. We therefore began our discussion by looking at bilateral relations.

9DL: Australia-India ties seem to have gathered a lot of steam in the past couple of years. A comprehensive strategic partnership between the two was announced in June 2020, followed by Australia’s inclusion in the Malabar naval exercise in November of the same year. The first 2+2 dialogue was held in September this year. How do you assess progress so far and what would you hope to see in the short term to strengthen this relationship?

LS: The Indian Australian relationship is one of the most exciting partnerships in contemporary foreign affairs. Elevating the Australia-India relationship from a bilateral Strategic Partnership to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP) has propelled the relationship forward. The last couple of years have seen Australia and India build trust through deepening their bilateral cooperation in political, economic, security and defence-related matters. With a shared vision of a stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific, the two countries are working together across many areas including security such as the 2+2 ministerial dialogue, the Malabar exercise, Australia’s invitation to India to join the next Talisman Sabre exercise and the AUSINDEX.

They are also cooperating in health security with regards to Covid-19 vaccine diplomacy, collaborating on cyber and critical technologies, working together in climate change commitments such as the Infrastructure for Resilient Island States (IRIS), and have committed to concluding a Common Economic Cooperation Agreement. I can confidently say, the Australia-India bilateral relationship has never been stronger. The main importance in the short term is for the current momentum to be maintained, regardless of who may be elected at the next Australian federal election. There needs to be strong bipartisanship for the Australia-India bilateral agenda.

9DL: The Australian Government stresses the importance of Indo–Pacific democracies — Japan, Indonesia, India and the Republic of Korea — as major bilateral partners in their own right and as countries that are shaping the regional order. Canberra is pursuing economic and security cooperation, as well as people-to-people links to reinforce these relationships. In this light, what is the current state of affairs in Australia-India ties?

LS: As you have alluded to, Australia shares many of its interests with democratic partners in the Indo-Pacific region, including India. Australia-India ties are today closer than ever, not just through their bilateral cooperation but within other minilateral/trilateral groupings too, such as the Quad, the Supply Chain Resilience Initiative and the India-Australia-Indonesia trilateral. The seriousness with which Australia is taking its diplomacy with India can be seen in the recent visits made by Australia’s Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment Dan Tehan and former Prime Minister Tony Abbott. Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has also committed to leading an update of the India Economic Strategy (Varghese, 2018) to consider the impacts of Covid-19, as well as take into account changing geostrategic circumstances. In terms of people-to-people links, we’re also starting to see a recognition that Indian-Australians will be crucial in shaping future perceptions and creating personal links in business, the arts, education, and civil society to anchor the Australia-India partnership.

9DL: Australia is home to about 700,000 people of Indian origin today, who are the second-highest tax-paying diaspora in the country. They are also expected to outnumber Chinese-born Australians over the next decade. Yet, Indian Australians also report experiencing racist violence and discrimination based on their religion or culture. How do these people-to-people issues affect the broader bilateral relationship and what may be done to improve this situation?

LS: Yes, in 2009, there were a number of cases of violence against Indians in Australia. This led to a decline in the number of Indian students enrolled in higher-education institutions in Australia from 92,106 in 2009, to 30,400 in 2013. There is no doubt this has led to enduring perceptions within India of Australians as ‘racist’ and ‘violent’, as well as creating a huge disconnect between the two countries, socially and politically.

However, one can say with ease that today things are different, today’s multicultural Australia is making significant efforts to ensure that such incidents do not take place and that we recognise the role of the Indian diaspora in nation-building. This is reflected in the resurgence of Indian students choosing to study in Australia in the last few years, with almost 80,000 Indian student enrolments at Australian higher education institutions by December 2020. Additionally, there were almost 65,000 Indian Vocational Education and Training student enrolments in 2020. But we need to be mindful and ensure that such incidents do not take place in the future and need to work to maintain this relationship. Moreover, Australian higher education institutions should ensure necessary services are provided to students studying abroad to make them feel at home, such as help with developing employability skills and offering mental health support.

9DL: In your view, how can India and Australia grow closer together and converge in their geopolitical strategies in the context of the Indo-Pacific where perceptions of China as a threat are on the rise?

LS: When it comes to China, Australia and India actually share a lot in common. Australia became one of China’s biggest targets after it excluded Huawei from its 5G rollout and called for an inquiry into the Covid-19 pandemic. As Harsh V Pant recently noted in an article in the Australian Foreign Affairs Journal, this led to a sort of “kinship” with India, which had also been targeted by China. In response to recent events, India has banned many Chinese apps, disallowed Chinese state-owned companies from investing in infrastructure projects, and kept Huawei out of its 5G infrastructure. In the face of the perceived threat of China, one notable initiative that will allow Australia and India to continue growing closer together is the Supply Chain Resilience Initiative. This Australia-India-Japan joint initiative aims to mitigate risks through diversifying supply options and will allow both countries’ economies to become less reliant on China, therefore rendering them less vulnerable to China’s economic coercion (eg trade sanctions on Australian exports).

9DL: Since the 1990s, India has become one of the world’s fastest-growing major economies and its international profile as a key security partner is also on the rise. It is a member of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) together with the United States, Japan and Australia. Although the Quad’s stated goal is to ensure a free and open Indo-Pacific through increased coordination, rising anxiety in the face of an increasingly assertive and hostile China is an important underlying factor. How do you see Australia’s capacity and willingness to facilitate convergence within Quad and efforts to address the ‘China challenge’?

LS: The Quad is a crucial part of Australia’s Indo-Pacific agenda. It has responded to some of the most defining challenges of our times including pandemics (Quad Vaccines Partnership), critical and emerging technologies, cyber security, climate change, maritime security, countering disinformation, counter-terrorism, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief. In terms of Australia’s commitment to facilitating convergence within the Quad, I think it has both the capacity and willingness to do so, especially after its inclusion in the Malabar exercise, which demonstrated Australia’s commitment to maritime security beyond its own borders. In addition, AUKUS has increased Australia’s defence capabilities with nuclear-fuelled submarines, providing Australia greater leverage within the Quad. In terms of the ‘China challenge’, I think Australia’s key goal is to preserve peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific, both through its membership in the Quad and through maintaining cordial ties with China.

9DL: Australia is the 14th largest GHG emitter in the world, yet, it remains committed to fossil fuels with reportedly 100 new projects under consideration. It has also been experiencing increasingly severe wildfires as the country’s climate has already warmed by over 1°C over the last century. What do you make of Australia’s performance at COP26?

LS: I think the world needs to step up together to address climate change and its challenges, and Australia definitely needs to be more proactive in this space. Even India, which boasts a population of almost 1.4 billion people has made ambitious commitments by 2030, such as producing more energy through solar and other renewables than its entire grid now. As far as COP26 is concerned, Australia’s plan to reach net-zero by 2050 is a positive outcome but it does not specify exactly how it will get there. One of the most commendable outcomes of COP26 was the India-led launch of Infrastructure for the Resilient Island States (IRIS) backed by partners Australia and the UK and aimed at supporting small island states with infrastructure to create stable and resilient economies and protect themselves from the catastrophic threat of rising sea levels.

9DL: The ‘Indo-Pacific’ concept has gained tremendous currency across strategic circles, and yet, it seems to mean different things to different states. The regional order is very much a work in progress. What can/should Australia and India be doing to proactively help shape the emerging order?

LS: As mentioned in their joint statement on the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, both Australia and India “share the vision of an open, free, rules-based Indo-Pacific region supported by inclusive global and regional institutions that promote prosperous, stable and sovereign states on the basis of shared interests”. Through increased bilateral cooperation, as well as multilateral cooperation, Australia and India seek to shape the regional order in favour of their interests. For Australia, continued regional engagement with the Quad, ASEAN, and the Australia-India-Japan and Australia-India-Indonesia trilateral groupings will play a big role.

But India lives in a challenging neighbourhood that has potentially been made more challenging with the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban. Therefore, Australia’s support for India to become a permanent member under a reformed UNSC and for India to be included in APEC and other regional and multilateral fora will be important in shaping the regional order. Australia can also provide further support to Indian-led global institutions such as the International Solar Alliance. For these two like-minded middle powers to work closer together on international economic and security issues in the Indo-Pacific region will not only benefit each other as global citizens but help shape a new regional and global order.

India and Australia are much more aligned today in how they see the world compared to the time of India’s independence 75 years ago where they were on the opposite sides of power blocs during the Cold War. We share common ground on an open Indo-Pacific and, if India makes further structural reforms, we will become much more aligned on the importance of an open economy. It is clear that we both want a stable, prosperous and inclusive region and that is an important foundation for a strong bilateral relationship that can formulate policy convergence.

DISCLAIMER: All views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent that of the 9DASHLINE.com platform.

Biography

Lisa Singh is the Chief Executive Officer of the Australia India Institute and a former Labor Senator for Tasmania. She is a longtime supporter of human rights and advocate for refugees. As the first person of Indian origin in the Australian parliament, she has continued to build Australia’s relationship with India and received the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman award for her exceptional and meritorious public service from the President of India in 2014.