Prime Minister’s

However, we were not as fortunate with then Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. Despite a number of emails and text messages to the Prime Minister’s senior media adviser, Mr Rudd’s office did not take up this offer.

uranium to India. While this was agreed on by the Labor Party, sadly the process remains stalled with little action forthcoming. How will the Coalition government handle this situation?

bit of dragging of the chain by perhaps the officials, rather than others. And if it’s some obstacle of law on the path of Australian officialdom that’s the problem I’d want to resolve.

visiting India and China every year; would you be looking at a similar agenda?

With just a few days to go before the 2013 Federal Election, Indian Link wrote to the Australian Labor Party and the Coalition Party to request interviews with their leaders. On behalf of the community, we wanted a better understanding of their overall polices before the election, with particular reference to the ones relating to India, as well as their plans for the Indian Australian community.

The Coalition responded within minutes of receiving our request, and then Opposition Leader Tony Abbott agreed to an interview that aired on Indian Link Radio.

The outcome of the 2013 Federal Election reflected the online survey which Indian Link conducted prior to the election.

Tony Abbott, the new Prime Minister of Australia, won the Federal Election through a comfortable margin, just as the Indian-Australian community predicted.

Mr Abbott was friendly and relaxed as he spoke about IndoAustralia issues to Pawan Luthra. The Indian community has great expectations from Mr Abbott now that he is in office, and hopes that he will deliver on these promises.

Pawan Luthra (PL): The white elephant in the room to progress the India-Australia relationship is the sale of

Prime Minister Tony Abbott (TA): We want it to happen. India is a democracy that enjoys the rule of law, and is a country with which we have good relations. Plainly, if Australia sells uranium to Russia or elsewhere, we ought to be prepared to sell uranium, under appropriate safeguards, to India. It seems like the current (at the time of interview: Labor) government has singled India out for punishment even though India’s role in the international community is a very stable one.

I’m very keen to try to ensure that uranium sales to India are resumed as soon as possible. Pawan, I would want to know exactly what the obstacles to these sales would be, exactly why there seems to have been a

PL: That’s good to hear, because this is one of the major issues holding back a more conducive relationship between the two countries.

TA: And we shouldn’t make it out to look like we are singling out India for some kind of criticism. India is a democracy under the rule of law, it’s been a very constructive contributor to the international community. It’s one of the coming superpowers of this century and it’s important that we acknowledge that and work as well as we can with India and the Indian government.

PL: Leading on from there, the NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell made it very clear at the start of his term that he would be

TA: Yes I would, Pawan. I think that it’s very important that Australia maintains the best possible relations with all its friends. Over the years we’ve obviously had outstanding relations with Washington and London, but we should never allow our strong friendship with our traditional friends and allies to divert us from an even stronger friendship with the emerging powers of our region, and India is very much in the forefront there. So I think it’s important that Australia acknowledges the fact that as time goes by, India is going to count for more and more in the world. Particularly given India’s profound commitment to democracy in the rule of law, it’s very important to build an even stronger relationship with India. India is the emerging democratic super power of Asia and I want to stress that. That’s why it’s very

The people who come to Australia to work and pay taxes from day one are not stealing Aussie jobs, they are building our country. We should be very welcoming to people who are prepared to come here for short time, or for a long time, to work and pay taxes and join the Australian team, which is what people on 457 visas abundantly do