Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Tourism) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I present the report of the Australian Parliamentary Delegation to India from 28 October to 4 November 2017, and I ask leave of the House to make a short statement in connection with the report.

Leave granted.

It was my pleasure to lead an Australian parliamentary delegation to India between 28 October and 4 November. This was the first delegation to India from the Australian parliament for 17 years. As well as me, the delegation comprised Mr Milton Dick, the member for Oxley; Mr Ian Goodenough, the member for Moore; Senator Pauline Hanson, a senator for Queensland; and Mr David Littleproud, the member for Maranoa. The delegation was supported—very ably, it must be said—by Ms Rachel Callinan.

The delegation participated in a full program of events in New Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad. The key objective of the program was to strengthen parliament-to-parliament ties with India by undertaking visits to India's national parliament in New Delhi and the state legislatures of Maharashtra and Telangana. Other aims of the visit were to gain greater insight into the current social, economic, governance and political issues faced by India and its people and to discover opportunities to further the deep relationship between our two countries. The delegation report outlines the series of meetings that took place.

There's no doubt that 17 years is too long between visits from the Australian parliament to India, and all of the delegation would like to see more regular contact, because the relationship between Australia and India is so important. We are close partners; we're both vibrant democracies; and we both share a commitment to stability and prosperity in the region. India is our ninth-largest trade partner, with two-way trade of over $20 billion. More than 60 per cent of the value of Australia's merchandise exports come from three commodities: coal, gold and vegetables. Australia is a natural partner with India. It is a fact that India remains the world's fastest-growing major economy whilst it is implementing major structural economic reforms.

As well as this, the delegation built on the people-to-people relationships that are so important. Over 670,000 Australians are of Indian ancestry and, of those, some 400,000 were born in India. One of the first activities that we had was the launch of the Australian Alumni Association in New Delhi. Of course, we know that there are some 54,000 students from India studying at institutions here in Australia, and this association will mean that they can interrelate with each other and interrelate with Australia on an ongoing basis. I thank also the Australian high commissioner for the work that she and her team did in supporting our delegation. As well as visiting parliaments, we also had the privilege of visiting institutions such as Dr Shroff's Charity Eye Hospital in New Delhi, the TERI-Deakin research centre, Tata Consultancy Services and YES Bank Ltd in Mumbai. In Hyderabad, we visited the T-Hub and we visited the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy to receive a briefing on national security. We were well received.

I must say that, in spite of the fact that the delegation was a very broad delegation, we got on well and were cooperative, and I thank the delegation for that. It is somewhat unusual for an opposition member to lead a delegation of the parliament. It was as a result of Senator Parry pulling out of the delegation due to the circumstances which led to his resignation from the Senate while, in fact, that delegation was taking place. I thank government members for being accepting of that, given my seniority in the parliament. Certainly, in the way that the delegation worked very cooperatively with each other, with the Australian officials and, most importantly, with the parliamentarians, national and state, who we met in India, as well as the representatives of the private sector and other organisations, it was indeed, I think, a delegation of achievement in fostering that important relationship with India.

I commend the delegation report to the House. Senator Hanson will be tabling the report in the Senate this afternoon, and I do say that it is important that the parliamentary officers work closely to ensure that Australian parliamentary visitations don't wait some 17 years before the next visit.