Job Cut Out for Peter Varghese

When Peter Varghese, lands in New Delhi in August to take over as the new Australian High Commissioner, majority of the Australian Indian community will watch his first steps. As he tries to use his office to extend leverage for Australian interests in India, he will have to contend with changed mindset of Indian middle class and student community towards Australia.

The message they want Peter Varghese to listen is that the burgeoning Indian middle class does have options other than Australia to explore. They are demanding equality in bilaterals and want Australia to shed its elitist image. Unfortunately the image of John Howard using tough language after Indian nuclear tests is more etched in Indian minds than John Howard’s decision to sell Uranium to India. Just as the Indian audiences glued to TVs to watch their Prime Minister Manmohan Singh by the side of French President Sarkozy as the main guest for French Bastille Day, they want to see Australia and other countries to offer them similar respect.

Diplomacy in Indian subcontinent is based on the principle of speaking the unspoken without speaking anything – doing things subtly and in a non aggressive way. Compare this with the relatively loud Australian foreign policy language and there is a mismatch. The recent comment of Kevin Rudd to visiting Indian journalists that 20 Australians have been murdered in India in the last 20 years was a disaster in PR. Whosoever advised Kevin Rudd to say this needs lessons in PR and shows that his close advisors lack the sensitivities and understanding needed to deal with India. The attacks on Australians happened over a period of 2 decades compared with over 30 assaults in 2 months on Indian students.

Going by the Indian media rage, you can safely assume that Australian authorities in India woke up, underestimated the sense of anger within the Indian community and did not do enough to contain the fire. We may need a Media PR agency just like India has in the US. Couple this with the thinly staffed Australian missions abroad, statements and shrill language used by politicians gets accentuated and the modulation of the message required by diplomats hardly gets carried out.

Australia’s most senior diplomatic envoy and John Howard appointee, John McCarthy, has served in New Delhi since 2004. While the bilaterals have strengthened during this time, there has been no major ground breaking development except the Howard announcement of selling Uranium to India. Hoping that the existing set up would continue to serve Australian interests in India in the future is self harming.

Inviting Indian journalists to Australia was a good step, sending a group of elderly journalists and radio hosts to India who have an ill informed view of the sub continent, on a funded trip should be the next step.

Most Australian cricketers have been associated with Education – Adam Gilchrist represents University of Wollongong while Bret Lee represents University of Deakin. Together with Steve Waugh they should be taken to tour India and explain the Australian perspective.

Peter Varghese has worked closely with Kevin Rudd and and is also at the peak of his career. With his Indian background and his vast experience in dealing with other countries, he is ideally placed to take this relationship forward. He needs to get details of all major incidents happening with Indian students in Australia and he needs to know the case details faster than that reported by the media. Only then will he be able to establish credibility.

With the Deputy PM Julia Gillard going to India in November and Kevin Rudd having accepted Dr Manmohan Singh’s invitation to tour India, Peter Varghese will have a lot of work to facilitate favourable outcomes from these trips. Right now Australia needs to engage a Public relations firm or a lobby group to readjust its image in India.

Similar Posts:

• Who should be Australia’s ICC Representative?
• India-Australia: Can the two countries establish a special relationship?
• Back to Future for Australia and India
• Peter Varghese speaks at AIBC Reception