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Australia for strategic ties with India: Julia Gillard

— Photo: M. Vedhan

Julia Gillard, Deputy Prime Minister of Australia and Minister for Education, Employment and Workplace Relations and Social Inclusion, addressing the media in Chennai on Thursday.

CHENNAI: Concluding her five-day tour of India in Chennai, Australian Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard on Thursday said that Australia desired to enter a strategic partnership with India on security matters, energy security and trade.

“It is certainly Australia’s desire that we enter a strategic partnership with India, which would deepen our collaboration on security matters, on energy security, on cooperation on climate change, on trade matters, as well as on education and research,” Ms. Gillard said.

Reiterating the Australian stand that it would not sell uranium to India till it signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, she said Australia could help shore up India’s energy security through its exports of coal and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG).

On the recent attacks on Indian students in Australia, Ms. Gillard, who is also the country’s Education Minister and Minister for Social Inclusion, said the government had a policy of zero tolerance and had stepped up policing and security measures in the particular areas of Melbourne and Sydney where the attacks had occurred.

She said that following her talks with Human Resources Development Minister Kapil Sibal, the two countries would conduct an annual ministerial dialogue in which representatives from various educational institutions would participate.

All educational institutions in Australia would be required to re-register, and permission to enrol international students would be denied to those found lacking in infrastructure, Ms. Gillard said. She repeated the “iron-clad guarantee” from the government that students in de-registered colleges would be enrolled in other colleges or would be refunded the fees paid.

Expressing sympathy with the parents who watched the incidents played by the media, she said there were less than 10 individual incidents, as Australia had some problems with crime in those specific areas just as any other country.

With the growth in vocational and professional education in Australia, and with nearly 1,00,000 students from India in Australian institutions, it was difficult to avoid some incidents, Ms. Gillard said, but added that students would find a safe and welcoming environment in the country.

To a question on airport security checks for VIPs in Australia, she said, “When I travel in Australia through Australian airports as Deputy Prime Minister, I am subject to the same security checks and arrangements as every other Australian citizen.”

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