New Delhi: Australia is keen on more investments from the Adani Group, and “hopes” billionaire Gautam Adani is not “put off” by the “difficulties” he faced in operationalising the controversial $16.5 billion Carmichael coal mine project in that country, former Prime Minister of Australia Tony Abbott said. in an exclusive interview to ABP Live, the former PM said it is his “duty” to ensure that “investors who have shown faith in Australia, Australia also shows faith in them.”
Asked about the Hindenburg Research report that has led to a massive plummeting of the billionaire’s wealth, Abbott said the incident has not impacted the ongoing Carmichael Coal Mine and Rail Infrastructure project located in Queensland, and it will continue to export coal to India.
"I want to, as I always do, say a big thank you to Mr. Gautam Adani for his major investment in Central Queensland. He was frustrated in every turn for the green activists but he persisted and as of the end of last year Adani coal from Central Queensland started coming into India to help the electrification of this country,” Abbott said during his India visit.
He added: "It’s basic that if you want your people to enjoy a modern life they need 24/7 electricity, and that’s what coal from the Adani Mining from Queensland is now helping to meet that demand.”
On March 2, the Supreme Court set up a six-member committee of experts to look into the allegations levelled by Hindenburg Research that the Adani Group resorted to manipulation of stock prices, which the conglomerate has denied. The top court also asked the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to finish its probe in the next two months.
According to Abbott, the Carmichael coal mine project has still not reached the scale as was originally planned but the coalfield has a long mine life.
“Now it’s not quite on the scale as it was originally anticipated but it’s still a very very big mine and I am absolutely 100 per cent confident that mine will now have a 20 or 30 or 40-year life and throughout that time it will be creating a better life for people here in India (or) wherever else that coal is now,” said the top Australian politician.
He said it is for Adani to decide where he will invest next. However, he said, “I certainly hope that the difficulties that he initially had in Australia won’t put him off.”
Abbott also spoke about the coal mine that is being developed by Jindal Steel and Power (JSPL), and said he is “delighted” that its owner Naveen Jindal has also put in his money in Australia.
"There’s another major investor in Australia, Mr. Naveen Jindal, who has also got a mine. He has a coking coal mine as opposed to a thermal coal mine at Wollongong… He hasn’t quite invested as much as Mr Adani but nevertheless he is facing ups and downs and I am delighted that he is persisting as well,” he added.
Albanese Government ‘Serious’ About India
Days before Australia’s new Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is to embark on a visit to India, Abbott said his government is as “serious” about its relationship with New Delhi as was the former Scott Morrison administration.
"There is full bipartisanship in Australia when it comes to important ties with India,” Abbott said, adding that the several high-level visits that have been happening between both countries is "a sign that the new government takes India just as seriously as the old government and I think this is key". "If we want to be taken seriously in India, we have to be here,” he said.
PM Albanese will be on an official visit to India from March 8-11 for the Australia-India Annual Leaders’ Summit in New Delhi. The PM will be accompanied by Trade and Tourism Minister Don Farrell and Resources Minister Madeleine King.
Prior to this, Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong visited India for the recently concluded G20 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting and the Quad Foreign Ministers’ Meeting.
Australia will be hosting the Quad Leaders’ Meeting later this year, for which Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be visiting that country. Last year, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar visited Australia thrice.
“In the end, at least as much as the legal framework, it’s the personal framework that drives our relationship,” said Abbott.
In terms of defence partnership between India and Australia, Abbott said both sides are enhancing bilateral as well as multilateral military exercises. This year, India has also been invited to participate in the Talisman Sabre Exercise that is likely to take place by the middle of 2023.
“India’s participation (in Talisman Sabre Exercise) is significant… This is just a big year for Australia and India,” the former Australia PM said.
China A Concern For Both India, Australia
Abbott also said both India and Australia see China as a challenge but in the case of Canberra, Beijing is now taking a softening stand. However, he believes the Xi Jinping government wants to “take back” Taiwan.
"We don’t want to fight anyone. We are a peaceful democracy. We want the best possible relations with all countries, even those that have treated us not only as decently as you would like. They are pulling back slightly, at least rhetorically… I think what we are seeing from China is a change of rhetoric, not necessarily a change of reality, it’s a change of tactic, not a change of strategy,” he said.
"We have to take the Chinese Communist regime at its word and they want to be the world’s strongest country by mid-century. They want to take Taiwan as quickly as possible by force if necessary. We have to take them at their word,” Abbott added.
He also said Australia is concerned about the ongoing military standoff between India and China across the Line of Actual Control (LAC). He said except for China’s border with Russia there is “no peace” in China with any other country with which it shares a common boundary.
Australia-India CECA
Last year, India and Australia signed an ‘Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement’ (ECTA) pact with the goal of signing a larger free trade agreement — Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) — the negotiations for which have been going on since 2011.
“Let’s not underestimate the scale of what has already been achieved. The (ECTA) is the first major trade deal for India in a decade and it’s the best of any trade deal that India has done. So while there are still some further things to be looked at and that’s really the icing on the cake and I think businesses on both sides should make best of the opportunities they’ve got rather than thinking something more could have happened,” Abbott highlighted.
ECTA is considered to be the first phase of the CECA, while the final and main part of the deal remains to be negotiated further. The ECTA, which came into force in December 2022, was signed under the former Morrison government in April 2022.
The Morrison government had appointed Abbott as a special trade envoy for New Delhi for the CECA.
Under the ECTA, 98.3 percent of tariff lines accounting for 96.4 per cent of India’s total exports to Australia get zero duty market access. The remaining 1.7 per cent lines are to be made zero duty lines over 5 years. Overall, Australia has offered duty elimination on 100 per cent of its tariff lines.
“This is already a very very good deal,” Abbott said, underscoring the fact that the ECTA is “comprehensive” and has been registered at the Geneva-based World Trade Organisation (WTO) as a full-fledged deal.