Australia’s High Commissioner to India, Harinder Sidhu, has revealed that Australia is deliberating “demonetising our highest denomination note”.
In an interview with The Indian Express, Sidhu said that Australia was inspired by India’s demonetisation decision. Here are the excerpts from the interview:
What are your views on demonetisation?
Demonetisation is perhaps the most radical policy I have ever seen being put to practice. It is interesting and inspiring to see how the Indian government is dealing with it, continuously incorporating feedback and public responses. I am watching the entire process with great fascination and it would be a major change for the Indian system if it works.
Indian government’s demonetisation move has inspired Australia to tackle its black money. With the announcement of black money task force in Australia, there are talks of considering demonetisation of our highest currency note.
We are keeping a close eye on the process to see if we could learn something from it.
Are there stand-out features of India-Australia ties?
We have come a long way over the years. Trade has grown exponentially between the two nations. In 2004, bilateral trade between the two countries was only 500-600 million dollars. Now it has reached nearly 20 billion dollars.
Our economic interest in India has also accelerated. Arun Jaitley visited Australia in March with a business delegation. Next year, we are planning to reciprocate the visit by bringing a large Australian business delegation to India.
The defence relationship between the countries is also symbolic of our strong bilateral ties.
We have a lot in common. We are both maritime nations, we are both democracies, we both want stability and both give primacy to rule of law in our countries. We share the Indian Ocean space just as we share a number of common interests. This has immensely strengthened our defence ties. We have had a number of defence exchanges in 2016, which is equal to our defence exchanges in the last three years combined.
This is not all. Four of our Naval ships visited India this year. We have had reciprocal visits by Chiefs of Army and Navy. The last three months have been witness to our first bilateral navel exercise along with high-level strategic talks.
In all, our relationship with India is strong and trustworthy.
What changes do you expect in India-Australia ties with China’s emerging regional dominance and America’s withdrawal after Trump’s accession to power?
A determining factor in the India-Australia relationship is its stability and I don’t see that changing.
It is too early to predict implications of Trump’s presidency. Therefore, I would refrain from speculating. We, in fact, are looking forward to working with the Trump administration as we have had a long alliance with USA. Our President has already reached out to President-elect Donald Trump.
Do you have a message for Indians who fear racist attacks in Australia?
Indians have nothing to fear about. Australia is a welcoming place for Indians.
Australia is one of the safest countries in the world and is very tolerant of multicultural differences. Indians form the largest number of migrants to Australia. Last year, we had Indians make 20 percent of our migrant population. The number of Indian-born Australians has also tripled in the last 10 years.
However, at times criminal acts are labelled as racist attacks. For instance, the attacks on students in 2008 were not racially motivated but our government dealt with them squarely.
We must avoid risking our safety and be cautious of not putting ourselves in vulnerable situations such as walking late at night in isolated parts of town. And this applies as much to Delhi as to Australia.
The Australian government and people are deeply saddened by the death of of Manmeet Alisher. As far as we know, there was no racial motivation behind the attack. He was simply caught in a wrong situation.
What do you have to say to the reports of migrants landing on Nauru Islands getting incarcerated in inhuman conditions?
Australia’s migration policy is quite generous by international standards. We bring in about one percent of our new population in migrants each year. India has been the largest source of migrants for us. I am a migrant myself. I came from India as a child and have had experiences in both worlds.
Australia has a strong refugee program. We bring in nearly 1700 refugees every year. Last year, we made an announcement of giving shelter to over 12, 000 Syrian refugees.
There is enormous support but to ensure that it continues, we will have to be very clear on the norms we want to accept people on. The decision to not allow illegal migrants on shore is a tough one but also a necessary one. For this, we have built centres in Nauru.
How will you respond to Amnesty’s concern over the issue?
I will not comment on people’s perceptions. The Australian government understands the responsibility it owes to its people. We try to discharge them to the best of our ability.
However, we are concerned over the conditions of people living in Nauru for prolonged periods. This has led to an agreement with the United States of America, to resettle those people in the US.
We strongly refrain from allowing people arriving on boats into Australia. The main aim of this decision is to target people-smuggling outfits. We had to take this tough decision because prior to this strong policy framework, we were losing lives. People were drowning in the sea. The humanitarian element is most important for us.
Is there humanitarian concern for Australia’s aboriginal community?
That is not something unique to Australia. Indigenous communities across the world bear the brunt of entrenched disadvantage. This gets passed on from one generation to the next generation and is not easy to solve.
Many aboriginal communities stay in the outskirts of towns which makes accessibility to them extremely difficult. We are working on this but it takes time to solve such problems.
(Source: The Indian Express)
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