Australia’s new PM has cemented his position in Labor over the years, and he understands India’s relevance well

Australia voted for change and elected a new Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, MP for Grayndler in New South Wales since 1996. Nicknamed ‘Albo’, his substantial rise in the party came under dispensation Kevin07 of Kevin Rudd in which he obtained a ministerial position. . During the 2010 hung parliament, Albanese was also instrumental in gaining the support of independent members when the government fell short of a majority. After the thrashing in the 2013 election, when the Australian Labor Party chose Bill Shorten as its leader, he was given the post of Deputy Prime Minister.

Subsequently, following the shock defeat of the ALP in 2019 when Shorten resigned from the leadership, Albanese became the leader of the party. It is undeniable that Albanese took over the leadership of the party at a very difficult time and needed to unite his factions, restore public and business confidence in Labour’s policies and values ​​and, above all, to consolidate his own authority as a leader – and he did it quite well on all fronts. The jury may differ on his leadership style, articulation and ability, but his political resume certainly speaks to his credentials as a peacemaker/negotiator in the Labor caucus and in Parliament. Above all, he possesses a key virtue for being a successful political leader, patience.

In 2022, biding his time, he supported his political convictions and after the first blunders in the media, brick by brick built his image as Prime Minister with the public. He championed change in the way politics was conducted, inclusiveness in decision-making, compassion for Indigenous Australians and hope for the unemployed. His promise to create a national anti-corruption commission is a big tick-tock with the teals and also the Australian public.

Her victory was also aided by strong opposition to rape and sexual misconduct; rising costs of living, fuel, electricity and basic necessities; stagnating wages, dwindling climate commitments and Scott Morrison’s belated response in securing COVID vaccines and dealing with natural disasters. More recently, ScoMo’s about-face response to the Queensland floods has given the ALP Queensland leadership much-needed ammunition to target the Federal Government. Morrison’s mishandling of Brittany Higgins’ rape and assault allegations against her two fellow parliamentarians, Christian Porter and Alan Tudge, in particular inflicted a severe beating on the party and her own public image, and a last-ditch effort to advertise Marise Payne as ‘Premier for Women’ proved unsuccessful in winning back female voters.

Albanese is likely to secure a majority reaching 76, and thus escape the Teals (climate change activists) and Greens who are blowing their necks. He will have more space to manage the expectations of the resource industry and inject some moderation into climate policy and Australia’s pursuit of “renewable energy superpower” status. In the post-pandemic recovery, the flagship resource sector is key to GDP growth, which the IMF raised to 4.2% in its latest forecast. The resources industry argues that more mines, minerals and metals are needed to build a modern society and drive economic growth and decoding this remains a difficult conundrum for the Albanian government.

For New Delhi, bipartisanship in Australia’s Indian politics means that regime change would not disrupt political continuity. The day after the Pulwama attack, the new Minister of Foreign Affairs Penelope Wong, then leader of the opposition in the Senate, condemned “the atrocious terrorist attack against security personnel in Jammu and Kashmir”. In April, Anthony Albanese, as Leader of the Opposition, also welcomed the “deepening of ties” and the signing of the Australia-India Economic and Trade Cooperation Agreement (AI-ECTA). In 2017, Albanese led a parliamentary delegation to India to deepen parliamentary ties, people-to-people relationships and understand social, economic, governance and political issues. He concluded his visit memoir by writing, “…it is important that parliamentary officers work closely together to ensure that Australian parliamentary visits do not wait around 17 years for the next visit.” The knowledge gained will come in handy now.

Albanese understands well the relevance of India, which was elevated to 63rd place in the “doing business made easy” ranking in the World Bank’s Doing Business 2020 report, making it the sixth fastest growing economy. faster, overtaking France. It is now the ninth largest recipient of foreign direct investment in 2019 according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) World Investment Report 2020. According to the Global Innovation Index (GII) published by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), India ranks 52nd in innovation, up from 57th in 2018 and topping the list among the countries of Central and South Asia.

In terms of market sophistication, India ranks 20th in terms of “ease of getting credit” and “market capitalization”; third in “Domestic Selling” and sixth in “Ease of Protecting Minority Investors”. In business sophistication, India has moved from 51st in 2018 to 27th and 23rd in “University/Industry Research Collaboration,” which should be of interest to academic players in Australia. India is a major knowledge and technology success story and ranks first in ICT services exports (as a percentage of total exports) and also ranks 22nd in the list of “Exporters of Creative Goods “.

As Albanese meets his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi in Tokyo at the Quad summit, both are reassured that their strategic and bilateral interests cannot be viewed in isolation. This means they can keep tabs on what’s going on between them and around them, simultaneously.

(The author is CEO, Institute for Australia India Engagement, Brisbane, National Sports Chair {Australia India Business Council} and Editor, India News Australia. Opinions expressed are personal.)