Diplomatist Magazine Diplomatist March 2019 | Page 30
SPECIAL REPORT
community to hold a bachelor’s or higher
degree (58 percent of the Indian-born
population as compared to 22 percent of the
wider community).
The personal, family and household
median incomes of the Indian-born
population are higher than that of overseas-
born, Australian-born, and other national
populations. Indian-born migrants are the
second-highest tax-paying diaspora after
UK-born migrants – they contributed A$7.9
billion in 2011–2012 and A$11.9 billion in
2013–2014 in taxation revenue.
There are numerous diaspora success
stories. Veteran diplomat Peter Varghese
authored ‘An India Economic Strategy
to 2035 – Navigating from Potential to
Delivery’, a report commissioned by former
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull that was
released in July 2018. The strategy is an
ambitious plan to transform Australia’s
economic relationship with India in the next
two decades.
Mr Varghese, currently the Chancellor
of the University of Queensland, is a former
Secretary of the Department of Foreign
Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and a former
Australian High Commissioner to India. He
is a recipient of one of Australia’s highest
honours, the Order of Australia.
Others include the current Australian
High Commissioner to India, Her Excellency
Harinder Sidhu; Senator Lisa Singh, the
30 • Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Diplomatist • Vol 7 • Issue 3 • March 2019, Noida
Labor senator for Tasmania in the federal
Parliament; and Jason Sangha, the son of
Punjabi immigrants who is seen by many as
a future star of Australian cricket. Sangha
captained the Australian team in the fi nal of
the Under–19 World Cup in New Zealand on
February 3, 2018, which was won by India.
Dhruv Deepak Saxena, an alumnus of IIT
Kanpur, is the founder-promoter of Riverina
Oil and Bio Energy Pty Ltd (ROBE) in Wagga
Wagga, New South Wales. ROBE is a A$150
million venture, whose Wagga Wagga brand
of canola oil is fast becoming a popular brand
of cooking oil in India.
Sanjeev Gupta, executive chairman of
the UK-based Global Financial Group,
has single-handedly revived the once-
dying regional city of Whyalla in South
Australia. Gupta purchased the ailing
Whyalla steelworks and has unveiled plans
for a A$1 billion transformation of the facility
into a mega plant that would be among the
biggest in the world.
While the bilateral relationship is
flourishing in the areas of diplomatic,
strategic, defence and security cooperation,
the business and socio-cultural relationship
is largely diaspora-driven. This is an area
where the India Economic Strategy to 2035
sees huge potential. Calling the diaspora
a “national economic asset”, the strategy
urges the Australian government to “harness
its entrepreneurial spirit, particularly its
willingness to innovate and take risks.”
It sees the diaspora as “a network
which can open doors, help navigate Indian
business culture, enhance the community’s
understanding of contemporary India and
contribute to Australian public diplomacy
in India.”
With such an influential and rapidly
growing diaspora, bilateral relations are set
to fl ourish in the decades ahead.
* The author is a Communications
Manager with the Australian Government
and the former president of the Australia
India Business Council ACT chapter.
He is also a former journalist with The
Canberra Times. He can be contacted on
[email protected]