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India
About the author
Ryan Neelam
Ryan Neelam was Director of the Public Opinion and Foreign Policy Program at the Lowy Institute. He led the flagship annual Lowy Institute Poll, was project director for the Global Diplomacy Index, and wrote about climate diplomacy and multilateral policy.
Over the past five years, Australia and India have drawn closer together politically, economically, and strategically. Australian and Indian prime ministers and their ministers now engage regularly on a bilateral basis and through groupings such as the Quad (Australia, India, Japan, the United States) and the G20. Australia and India have launched reciprocal strategies aimed at boosting two-way trade and investment, and agreed a trade deal that entered into force in December 2022. The tempo of defence and security cooperation has also lifted as both countries seek to deepen partnerships to balance China’s growing military weight in the Indo-Pacific.
At the same time, media and international human rights groups have documented religious discrimination as well as voiced concerns about an erosion of free speech and freedom of the press in India.
In a new question this year, Australians were asked to rank as a high, medium, or low priority three different issues in Australia’s engagement with India. In a follow-up question, respondents were then asked which of the three Australia should give the highest priority.
Four in ten Australians (42%) say trade and investment should be the highest priority in the relationship with India. One-third (32%) say human rights should be the top bilateral priority, while only two in ten (20%) give defence and regional security cooperation top billing.
