Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was in town to launch Parramatta MP Andrew Charlton’s new book, delivering one important message: “India will change Australia for the better”.
Recently launched at Riverside Theatres, Charlton’s new book Australia’s Pivot to India explores how the Australia-India relationship will shape the futures of both countries in the years to come.
Speaking in front of a packed audience of 800 people in Parramatta, Charlton said India’s rise presents a great opportunity for Australia.
“The book that we’re launching today has a very simple message, and that is that Australia and India are in a magic moment,” he said.
“Our cooperation can help each other, but even more than that, Australia and India working together can be a force to a different world, promoting peace and stability.”
The launch of the book comes after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Australia earlier this year, officially unveiling a plaque that marked Harris Park’s business district as Australia’s first ‘Little India’.
“Harris Park’s first resident, before it was Little India, was a doctor from India,” Charlton added.
“Now, Harris Park has come full circle. Today, it’s the only Little India in Australia and, I think, the best Little India in the world.”
Dedicating the book to the people of Parramatta and the Indian diaspora across Australia, Charlton said there are now more than one million Australians of Indian descent.
“Everyday, Australians of Indian descent are making a positive contribution to our nation,” he added.
“When you put together the rise of India in the world and the growing contribution of the Indian diaspora in Australia, you get an inescapable conclusion.
“And that conclusion is that India will change Australia for the better inside and out over the next few decades.”
Congratulating Charlton on the book, Albanese said ‘Australia’s Pivot to India’ is a “thoughtful, warm and optimistic work.”
“It’s fitting that Andrew dedicates this book to his electorate and to the India diaspora because our people will be the pivot point,” he continued.
“Our people will be the ‘central core’ of a stronger, deeper and more diversified relationship between Australia and India.”
Albanese added that Australia is building a “distinctive relationship with India” that goes behind transactional engagement and circumstantial alignment.
“For too long the bilateral relationship between Australia and India was underdone, under-explored and under-examined. Now happily, as this book records, that has changed a great deal in recent years.”
“Not only is our bilateral relationship stronger and deeper than it has ever been, I think unquestionably that is the case, our multilateral engagement has also gone to a new level.”
To find out more about Australia’s Pivot to India and how to get a copy, go to http://www.blackincbooks.com.au/books/australia-s-pivot-india.
Ellie Busby is a news reporter for Western Sydney Publishing Group. A graduate of the University of Hertfordshire and Western Sydney University, she is a journalism Major. Ellie has worked with Universal Media, The Cova Project and for a range of other organisations. In 2024, Ellie was named Young Writer of the Year at the Mumbrella Publish Awards.