Scott Morrison’s Liberals only have themselves to blame for failing to ink a free trade deal with India during Monday night’s leaders’ summit with Indian Prime Minister Modi.

By ignoring all but one of the 90 recommendations of the India Economic Strategy to 2035 report penned by Peter Varghese – which the Government received in 2018 – three successive Liberal trade ministers have failed to lay the groundwork required to secure a trade deal with India.

While negotiations for a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement with India have been ongoing for many years, in September 2021 Trade Minister Dan Tehan gave himself a deadline of Christmas last year for an ‘early harvest’ interim trade deal, to lock in some benefits for both countries sooner rather than later.

Today’s leaders’ meeting was an opportunity to finally ink that deal before the election, albeit three months late. Yet the interim deal was not signed.

Labor has a longstanding commitment to enhancing our relationship with India. India is a democracy of 1.4 billion people, just across the Indian Ocean from Australia. We would be foolish not to prioritise the development of a trading relationship with this vital and burgeoning market.

Following the commissioning of the Varghese report, the Indian Government commissioned a corresponding report, completed by Anil Wadhwa.

However, the Morrison-Joyce Government has not even attempted to improve language and cultural training for Australian businesses to better build healthy relations with their Indian counterparts, as recommended by the Varghese report, nor provided any support for Australian universities to partner with Indian institutions to teach skills and professions to Indian students.

Scott Morrison and Dan Tehan like to attend signing ceremonies, but they have failed to do the hard work required to develop Australia’s economic relationships. They’re all about the photo op and never about the follow up.

TUESDAY, 22 MARCH 2022