From our vantage point in Perth looking across the Indian Ocean, Western Australians have a clear line of sight to India. Our state has traded with India since the 1830s and was the first Australian state to establish a trade office in 1995. Yet our vision has been obscured in recent times as our narrow economic focus on commodities produced an almost unique focus on northeast Asia. Rapidly changing objective circumstances invite Western Australia to renew its role as protagonist in the Australia-India bilateral. 

Shifting geo-economic realities demands that Australia continue to sharpen its focus on India. Important pillars of the bilateral relationship are stronger. The strategic relationship has deepened considerably over the past decade, and the defence relationship is now complex. The evolving geostrategic context has increased diplomatic and strategic focus on India, yet the interest in developing deeper economic and cultural relationships has been at best seasonal. 

Australia may have indulged in a superficial and unidirectional foreign policy in recent years, but the complexities of the present era invite an omnidirectional, multifaceted foreign policy to which active sub-national governments could contribute significantly. Western Australia has myriad advantages that could be deployed in favour of a deeper engagement in India, but it would need to break free from the commodities-led approach that has served it incredibly well in the past. New circumstances demand an evolved approach. 

Benefits of embracing India 

In a previous role as senior adviser for international engagement to the Premier of South Australia, I saw first-hand how a state with few natural advantages could forge a distinct identity and approach in India. From 2012, South Australia had a specific and regularly updated engagement strategy with India, but former Premier Jay Weatherill also seized opportunities to elevate the importance of India to South Australia. 

At the 2011 ALP national conference, South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill seconded the Prime Minister's motion to allow the export of uranium to India, thus removing an important barrier to an enhanced bilateral relationship. Weatherill also deployed other instruments of engagement, such as sport, to enhance South Australia’s standing in India. 

When state governments were asked to bid for marquee matches at the 2015 Cricket World Cup, jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand, most state governments asked to host a quarter or semi-final match. Weatherill’s South Australian Government requested the group game between India and Pakistan, knowing that the match played at the beautiful Adelaide Oval would represent an invaluable promotion of his state. 

Deeper ties needed 

Prevailing circumstances demands all Australian governments commit to trade diversification and invite Western Australia to renew its historic commitment to India. As Australia’s ‘Indian Ocean Capital’, Western Australia has persuasive and influential actors able to assist in this process of renewal. The Perth USAsia Centre, one of Australia’s leading foreign policy think tanks, is a strong advocate for deeper engagement between Australia and India. 

Western Australians Stephen Smith and Julie Bishop, from different sides of the political spectrum, are former foreign ministers who made excellent contributions to the bilateral. There is also a new generation of advocates for the bilateral, such as the Perth USAsia’s Policy Fellow Sonia Arakkal Perth as well as Hugo Seymour, a foreign policy analyst who convenes the Western Australian ALP’s International Affairs Policy Committee. There is a large and active Indian diaspora in Australia. Western Australia can leverage emotional and intellectual connections to grease the wheels of our trade and investment relationship. 

Lamentably, Australia’s diversity is not yet reflected in our Federal Parliament nor in our Board rooms. In late September, I hosted an event with the Western Australia Chapter of the Young Sikh Professionals Network. Western Australia’s Minister for Cultural Interests Hon Tony Buti participated in a panel that addressed this issue. There remain barriers to participation in Australia’s democracy and in the upper echelons of our business community. 

Indian diaspora 

In the Western Australian parliament, however, there are three MPs of Indian heritage. This fact reflects well on the state and should be deployed in favour of the state’s relationship with India. To put this in context, there are currently only two MPs representing the Liberal Party in the present, Labour-dominated Parliament. The diaspora in Western Australia could be influential advocates for deeper engagement with India.  

There are also sector-specific opportunities such as international education. Of all Australian states, Western Australia was strident in enforcing measures to ensure the population was immune to the worst impacts of Covid. There is now an opportunity to promote our state and its excellent academic institutions as a safe option for students (and their parents) looking to pursue their academic futures in a safe environment. Having won the political war during Covid, the state government must now prepare to win the peace. 

The same could be said for tourism. Western Australia is the most aesthetically beautiful state in Australia, boasting magnificent beaches and red dirt in the north of the state, and wonderful forested areas to the south. With a sublime natural environment and a clean record during the global pandemic, it is an excellent option for Indians considering their first post-Covid holiday. 

Complementarities 

There are also complementary sectors that offer strong, immediate opportunities. Technical partners in a range of sectors such as renewable energy, for example, could provide Western Australian companies opportunities to share their expertise, working with Indian states and companies seeking services and technologies to address energy insecurity.  Western Australia is a leader in emerging microgrid and off-grid systems. The pursuit of such relationships reflects the present epoch in which geostrategic and ecological concerns can no longer be easily separated. 

The defence sector itself may offer further opportunities. In 2016, Western Australia and Andhra Pradesh formalised a sister state relationship. The latter is home to major naval facilities, the former seeks to win a greater share of Australia’s defence sector manufacturing. Both states are familiar with competitive federalism evident in their respective countries and could work together for mutual benefit.   

A stronger relationship with India is undeniably in Australia’s – and Western Australia’s - interest. But there is much work to do. If the Western Australian state government decides to make India a priority, the engagement effort would be led by Mark McGowan, the single most popular political leader in Australia, and an active and talented Minister for Trade and State Development, Roger Cook. 

The opportunities and complementarities are too great to ignore. 

(The writer is an international engagement expert based in Perth, Western Australia. The views expressed are personal).