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Why Ted Baillieu may be the key to renewed Australia India relations?

A lot of water has flown in the Murray Darling basin since part time taxi driver and Master of Accounting student, Rajneesh Joga died after being assaulted, taxi driver Jalwinder Singh was stabbed seven times by his passenger, Shravan Kumar poked in the eye with a screw driver and accountancy graduate Nitin Garg murdered in Melbourne. Last 18 months have been a tumultuous period ever in the history of Australia India bilateral relationship. The collapse of the education market for overseas Indian students, the shoddy practices of few education providers and the gross negligence of the Australian education regulators has left a bad taste in the mouth and created a big market for forces promoting hatred and caused apprehensions in the minds of people against each other.

Melbourne became the epicentre of violent acts against Indian students during this period and the inept handling of the situation by ex Premier John Brumby and Melbourne Police Commissioner Simon Overland compounded the situation.  Their naïve and sometimes illogical comments gave fuel to the fire and provoked uproar of anger in India against them which then got translated into anger against Australia. The social commentators I spoke with now fear that Australia has replaced Pakistan as the nation most hated by Indians. Pakistan has continued to carry out terror attacks against India, but its image in India has softened due to the influx of Pakistani artists on TV and in Bollywood singing industry. When an Indian thinks of Pakistan the first image that comes to mind is of Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, the singer, and not the image of a Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist. When an Indian thinks of Australia, the first image that comes to mind is not that of a Kangaroo or Harbour Bridge but it is an image of a helpless Indian student with black eyes or swollen cheek or a torn lip, attacked by assaulters.

The scores of visits by Australian officials and ministers have so far failed to ebb the bad tide. Take the case of John Brumby's visit to India which was marred by controversy. The advice given to him by arm chair bureaucrats was to avoid visiting Mumbai in the aftermath of the 26/11 terror attacks. So even before his visit started, it annoyed most of Indian commentators and media. If Obama, Hillary Clinton and Frank Sarkozy would find it all right to visit Mumbai and visit the specific terror attack sites, you need to question the logic of bureaucrats in DFAT and Office of National Assessments and also officials working in Australian High Commission in India, who offered this flawed advice. John Brumby at Hotel Taj, just a few days after the terror attacks, offering prayers for the souls departed and offering support for the fight against terror attacks would have guaranteed him air time and Australia would have stuck a right chord in the Indian minds.

Let's also recollect what Brumby did in India after AFL player Michael Hurley was charged with assaulting an Indian taxi driver. When asked for his reaction, Brumby spoke his mind and forgot that he was being recorded by at least a dozen TV cameras of different media companies which were feeding over half a billion TV audiences. He forgot he was not addressing local media in Australia and instead of offering sympathy to the hurt taxi driver, he went on to give a good character certificate to the player saying he was a good human being and a good kid. In a country where drinking is not socially acceptable, you have a visiting Head of a State defending the actions of a drunk player and not offering condolences in the first place was an extremely childish act. The personal character certificate was not needed. This was a Himalayan blunder and caused huge damage to Australia's international reputation.

It demonstrated how incapable some of our politicians are when speaking to international audiences. This was a major PR disaster. Brumby was clearly not briefed correctly and during the remaining period of his visit, his comments continuously scrolled down in the news ticker of all major channels. The embarrassment caused Brumby to cancel all media interactions and instead of helping the situation he muddied the waters. The message reinforced in Indian minds that the top Australian brass is not serious in solving crime against Indian students. The message emanating from Australia was one of denial and audacity rather than one of rapprochement and reassurance.

It also underscores Australia's desperate need to invest in programs that build cultural awareness and understanding between Australia and India. International education is Victoria's biggest export earner. That the Premier of a State does not have any understanding of how to handle media and cultural issues in another country which is supporting the States biggest export industry, is laughable. It is equivalent of Kristina Keneally visiting China to advance Australian coal industry and then lecturing them on the flaws of communism.

Victorian Police Commissioner, Simon Overland, who has developed a psychic ability to instantly predict the motive of each and every attack on an Indian student, has also caused damage to the relationship as well.

Overland termed almost every attack as opportunistic and offered his prejudiced view that the dressing and behaviour of students was responsible for attacks on them.

During the pre opening of the CommonWealth games, Julia Gillard openly said India faced a terror attack. While the whole world knew that India could face terror attacks during the games, almost all country heads tempered their language and conveyed the point but Gillard's message appeared tough and was not liked in India. Given this major leaders have failed to strike a right chord. Even though their intent was right the method of delivery and execution was not right. At this moment there is utter frustration inside Australian think tanks over the failure of Australian efforts to regain its clean image in India. Brushing the whole Indian media as having a bias against Australia reflects flawed thinking and we need to readdress the way in which Australia engages with India.

So much so that if and when Indian Prime Minister shakes hands with Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, the politician in Dr Manmohan Singh will think how will this image go down with the voters. Labor party's blatant refusal to sell Uranium to India has complicated the issue. Kevin Rudd's unilateral decision to pull out of 4 nation war games in Indian Ocean when he became the PM and his Chinese obsession has effectively limited his likeability and appeal in India.

Enter Ted Baillieu. A new Liberal Premier in the state of Victoria. A leader who came on the scene 10 years back and had no hope of becoming a Premier up until now. If you examine his comments and reactions to the attacks on Indian students you will find a marked similarity between his comments and those of hardline organisations like FISA. Both have been critical of low police force numbers in the state. Ted Baillieu has also cultivated and made it a point to attend Indian community functions and has offered a different perspective on attacks than those offered by Brumby and Co. His Liberal background and the openly stated policy of Liberals supporting the sale of Uranium to India means that Ted is the new hope for improving bilateral relations between India and Australia. It is fair to say that Ted Baillieu will appeal more to India, than even the PM Gillard and foreign minister Rudd and this opportunity needs to be en cashed soon. Baillieu needs to take with him those students who have graduated recently and are living a happy life in this lucky country. We need to find success stories of Indian students in Victoria and also send a few of them along with Baillieu to India. Representatives of FISA including Gautam Gupta should be roped in this delegation along with a few other people from the Australian Indian community to explain the situation and try to break the animosity and improve Australian image in India.

This small step has the potential to unlock heaps of lost good will and improve trade relationship. At stake is a huge export potential which can flow between two countries and a chance to improve the education market for Australia for Indian students. Ted is now the biggest hope to unlocking the webs in this relationship.

 

About the Author

Rohit has a flair for sniffing news and has done some outstanding stories related to the growing and vibrant Australian Indian community. He is the Editor-in-Chief of THE INDIAN and his articles can be found at www.rohitrevo.com.au

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