On June 10, 2026, Narendra Modi surpassed Jawaharlal Nehru’s record of 4,398 consecutive days as prime minister, becoming India’s longest-serving elected leader. It is a milestone that invites reflection, and for the Indian diaspora in Australia, it raises a particular question: how has the relationship between these two countries transformed across his tenure? The answer, as with most things in geopolitics, is complicated.
When PM Modi first landed in Australia in November 2014, he was still finding his feet on the global stage, appearing somewhat nervous at the G20 in Brisbane. The India that stood behind him was a rising economy hungry for partnerships. Australia, for its part, was cautiously optimistic. Nearly 12 years on, that bilateral relationship has been institutionalised, tested, and, in patches, strained.
The big deal: ECTA
The centrepiece of the economic relationship is the Australia-India Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement. Signed in April 2022 and officially entered into force in December 2022, ECTA aims to grant Australian producers access to the Indian market while providing opportunities for trade, investment, and innovation. The numbers are significant: ECTA was designed to save Australian exporters around $2 billion a year in tariffs, while consumers and businesses stood to save around $500 million on imports of finished goods and manufacturing inputs. Notably, it was the first FTA India had struck with a major economy in over ten years.
The agreement was not without friction. Agriculture proved contentious throughout negotiations, with India protective of its dairy sector and domestic farming vote bank. Still, what was achieved represented a significant reset after decades of slow-moving economic ties.
One..Two..Three visits
PM Modi’s engagement with Australia has been personal as well as political. His 2014 visit saw him address a joint sitting of both Houses of Parliament in Canberra, the first Indian prime minister to do so. His return to Sydney in May 2023 was a different kind of moment altogether. Around 20,000 cheering fans welcomed him at a Sydney stadium. That visit produced the Migration and Mobility Partnership Arrangement and new consulates (Brisbane and Bengaluru) on both sides. And now, a third visit is supposedly scheduled for July 2026, covering Sydney for official bilateral engagements and Melbourne for a large-scale diaspora gathering expected to attract up to 40,000 attendees. Each visit has marked a new elevation in the relationship’s temperature.
People on the move: The working holiday visa
Among the more consequential shifts for ordinary Indians has been the opening of the working holiday visa pathway. Announced during the 2023 visit, the scheme allows Indians under 30 with relevant skills and proficient English to apply for two-year working visas without requiring prior job confirmation, with places initially capped at 3,000 per year. It was a long-awaited move for a community that had watched peers from European nations enjoy this mobility for years, and it signalled that Australia was now willing to treat India as something closer to an equal partner in migration policy.
QUAD: The strategic backbone
Perhaps the most consequential development of the PM Modi years in terms of regional architecture has been the reinvigoration of the Quad. In 2017, PM Modi joined the leaders of Japan, Australia, and the United States to revive the grouping, spurred by growing concerns over China’s expanding economic and military influence in the region. What began as a security dialogue has since broadened significantly. With Biden and Japanese PM Kishida having left office, PM Modi has emerged as the one constant presence at Quad summits since the grouping began meeting at the leaders’ level in 2021. For Australia, which has aligned its strategic posture firmly with this Indo-Pacific architecture, India’s reliability as a Quad partner has been foundational.
The difficult chapters
No honest account of this relationship omits its friction points. The most visible of these arrived in April 2024, when Avani Dias, the ABC’s South Asia bureau chief, left India after being told by a Ministry of External Affairs official that her visa extension would be denied because her reporting had “crossed a line.” Her visa troubles followed the production of an episode about the killing of pro-Khalistan activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada. The Australian government intervened; a two-month extension was granted hours before her flight. Dias left anyway. The episode drew sharp criticism from press freedom organisations and sat uncomfortably alongside PM Modi’s characterisation of India as “the mother of democracy.”
Then there is the question of polarisation. The Indian diaspora in Australia, once a relatively unified community presence, has increasingly reflected the political fault lines of home. Protests during PM Modi’s 2023 visit, disagreements over how to engage with Australian politicians, and divergent views on Indian domestic policy have all surfaced.
A relationship worth watching
Twelve years of PM Modi have produced a bilateral relationship that is deeper, more institutionalised, and more strategically significant than at any prior point in history. Critical minerals have emerged as a key pillar of the partnership, particularly in the context of clean energy and advanced technology. Trade has expanded, people-to-people ties have multiplied, and the strategic alignment through the Quad has given the partnership genuine weight.
What it has also revealed is that warm summits and signed agreements do not resolve every underlying tension. Democratic norms, and community cohesion will remain live questions as this relationship matures. As PM Modi heads into his record-breaking term, and as his third visit to Australian shores approaches, both countries will be watching to see which version of this partnership defines the years ahead.
Read more: The cat’s out of the bag? PM Modi’s Australia visit all but confirmed
