India-Australia partnership important when global order is being reshaped, says Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong

“India–Australia partnership is important at a time when the global order is being reshaped,” Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said on Wednesday (August 27, 2025). She also said that Australia does not support tarriffs. She was speaking with a delegation of visiting Indian journalists at Canberra. She said that as a friend of India and the U.S., Australia would encourage dialogue, when asked about the current relations between India and the U.S. “What we would want as friends of both countries and as very obviously, we’re an alliance partner of the United States, is to say we share so much. We share not just history, but we do share very clear objectives about the attributes of the region in which we live. We always encourage dialogue, and we are strong supporters of the Quad.”

While answering a question by The Hindu on India–Australia bilateral relations, she said, “We are in a time where the global order is being reshaped, the regional order is being reshaped. And we have a responsibility to influence that reshaping, and we want to work with India, because we see a lot of convergence and alignment in the sort of outcomes we want from that reshaping. We see the attributes of the region that we want as being the shared objectives, so it’s a very important time for us to keep working together.”

When asked about her opinion on the recent imposition of tariffs by the U.S. on India, she said she would not like to comment on the bilateral relations. “I can tell you what Australia’s position is. We don’t support tariffs. We believe in the logic of the post-world economic order, that openness can enable growth. And our economy is a testament to that. Australia has developed our economy and advanced over these last decades, because we have traded with the world in large parts. And we also see trade engagement as being a critical enabling piece,” she said.

Emphasising on the importance Australia places on its relationship with India, Ms. Wong said she had met with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar more than she had met any other counterpart. “We are in a time of great change. I think what you see in Australia is a very reliable, stable partner that shares a very strategic objective, which, I describe as a peaceful, stable and prosperous region in which sovereignty is respected,” she said.

While speaking on a question of the impact of current bilateral relationship between India and the U.S. on Quad, Ms. Wong said, “We are strong supporters of the Quad. Obviously, I’ll leave it to others to engage bilaterally on issues that they that they want to deal with. But I would always say that it’s good for all of us to remember what we share. We do have a very lot of shared objectives around the Indo-Pacific. And we are Quad partners, not just because we’re Quad partners, but we’re Quad partners because we have those shared strategic objectives.” The Quad is a grouping of Australia, India, Japan, and the United States that is maintained by talks between member countries.

When asked about India and China repairing their relations, she said China is a great power. “China is asserting its interests as powers do, particularly great powers. Some of those interests don’t accord with Australia’s interests. There will be differences in the relationship. We also have areas where we can cooperate. We cooperate where we can. We disagree where we must. And we engage in the national interest. It describes a way of dealing with the relationship which recognises that there would be areas of differences, and recognises there will be areas of cooperation, and also recognises the importance to both our countries for mature engagement. Now, that’s the approach we [Australia] take, and from my observation, it’s the approach that India seeks to take.”

She reiterated that Australia valued the rising number of Indian students who preferred Australia as a study destination. “What we have is education exports. So international students coming to Australia is a very important part of our economy, and it’s also a very important part of our bilateral relationships and our regional relationships. My father was a Colombo Plan scholar to Australia. So, I’ve known through my own life the importance of that experience of education, and what that means long-term for our bilateral relationship. There have been various reforms in the education area; they are about trying to improve the quality of the educational offer, and we have been really clear. We will continue to welcome international students, but we have sought to improve the quality of that education and also to stabilise the numbers, which obviously spiked as a consequence of post-COIVD,” she said.

(The reporter is in Australia on the invite of the Australian government as part of the completion of five years of India-Australia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership)