Success of Australia in Asia will be much of choice rather than chance, according to the Australian Consul-General at Chennai, Mr David Holly. He lists out the choices that Australians have to establish a cordial relation with the continent.
"Asia is Australia's future," said Mr. David Holly, the Australian Consul-General for southern India at Chennai, while initiating a weekly interaction on 'Australia in the Asian Century" at the Chennai Chapter of the Observer Research Foundation (ORF-C), on February 16, 2013. To substantiate the point, he quoted former Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating, who said 17 years ago, "If Australia does not succeed in Asia, it cannot succeed anywhere."
The discussion was divided into two parts. The first part focused on the White Paper published by the Australian Government. The second one was Mr Holly's observations on the White Paper. Before going on to the brief analysis of the 'White Paper', the Consul-General gave an insight into the growth and development of Asia. He listed out the reasons such as investing in the people, building the capital and expansion of the market, for this rapid development of Australia's northern neighbors. But he also said that a large portion of the people in Asia is yet to be the part of this regional development.
The 'White Paper', according to Mr. Holly, is about how Australians respond to the developments in and around Asia. It analyses the character of Asia's rise in the global market and also lauds the phenomenal rise of Asia. While touching upon the economic development of Asia as a whole, Mr Holly said that the GDP in Asia would double by 2025, and attributed this high rate of development to rapid growing economies like India and China.
"Success of Australia in Asia will be much of choice rather than chance," he said and listed out the choices that Australians have to establish a cordial relation with the continent. He referred to the choices put in front of them, which ranged from connection to Asian markets, way to build sustainable security to developing deeper and broader relations with the regions.
While listing out the choices and explaining them in detail, the teaching of Asian languages and cultures at school-level occupied the fore-front. Mr Holly exemplified the same by saying that Mandarin, Hindi and other Asian languages are being taught in addition to an understanding of the Asian culture and tradition. This culture-learning should not be restricted to laboratories but should extend to cover public servants as well, he said.
Speaking about Australia's relations with the Asian nations, he said, the people-to- people linkages should become broader and deeper with substantial flow of new people and ideas. He stressed that enabling Australians to travel and work in Asia is the key to ensure broader relationship.
The second half of the discussion witnessed personal observations of the Consul-General pertaining to the 'White Paper'. As he pointed out, "The White paper is not predominantly about Asia, instead it is a message to Australia about what is about to come." He stated that though Australia trades more with Asia than any other continent, the key now is to take this relation to strategic ties instead of just looking for commercial success.
"We need to be ready to reach out to Asia," was the quote by the Consul-General on talking about the implementation of the 'White Paper'. He said that the overall response of the paper is positive and once again stressed upon Asia being Australia's future.
Responding to questions and observations from the floor, Mr Holly, who was a co-author of the 'Indo-Australian Free Trade Feasibility Study', described the various details about the tariffs being levied on goods and services. He also said that Australia is a very favorable market for Indian goods. Though bilateral trade relations are very small, of the scale of $16 billion and even that in favour of Australia, said Mr Holly while explaining the present position, he attributed it mainly to exports of gold and copper by his country.
The Consul-General attributed this low profile of Australia in India to the very weak contemporary image of the former. But India finds itself in the list of six countries prioritised by Australia to ease trade relations. An interesting fact mentioned was that four of the six countries were from Asia, thereby strengthening the fact of Asia being important to Australia.
Mr Holly said that Australia never believed in the use of nuclear material and atomic power plants do not exist in the island-continent. They also did not export uranium to any other country. India was the only country now to be exempted from the Australian nuclear policy. He also said that Australia has a very strong stance in terms of environmental conservation. The Government, he said, imposed 'carbon taxes' which was taxation on coal.
On education and immigration, Mr Holly David said that 39 universities in Australia had nearly 230 active MoU's with Indian universities and that it is providing a gateway for Indian students to pursue higher studies in Australia with the exception of vocational courses. The conditions in the Australia for immigrant Indian students are more favorable in the recent times and there have been no reports of insecurity for Indian students.
Mr Holly said that Australia never encouraged refugees, especially the ones who land on the Christmas Islands. They are shifted to Papua New Guinea or Nauru instead of the mainland. He also appreciated the role played by the law- enforcers to deter refugees from entering Australia.
The diplomat concluded saying that by the year 2025, the agendas detailed in the 'White paper' would be realized and this paper would act as an architect to deeper and broader relations with Asia.
(This report is prepared by Ramalingam., 1st year BA (Journalism & Mass Communication), S R M University, Chennai)
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