When talking about the friendship between Australia and India, a visit to a hallowed cricket ground is practically mandatory.
He may not be able to claim to be as much of a cricket tragic as our last Liberal Prime Minister John Howard, but Tony Abbott was welcomed to the Cricket Club of India as a fellow sportsman, and presented with a lifetime membership.
The Prime Minister, Adam Gilchrist, Brett Lee and Sachin Tendulkar autographed the caps of budding cricketers and for some extra star power, it was revealed that Brett Lee would star in his first Bollywood movie, alongside well-known actress, Tannishtha Chatterjee. “Unindian” will be filmed in Sydney next month. It's a love story about an Australian of Indian origin, pressured by her family to find a “nice Indian man”... then along comes Brett.
Of course there's serious business to discuss here too. Tony Abbott will meet his recently-elected Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi, in New Delhi today so finalise the deal allowing Australia to sell uranium to India. Mr Abbott says he is satisfied the appropriate safeguards are in place to ensure the uranium won't be used in weapons, though the exact details remain unclear.
“These are the commitments that we’ve got from the Indian Government,” he said, “and India has an absolutely impeccable non-proliferation record – an absolutely impeccable non-proliferation record – and India has been a model international citizen. India threatens no one. India is the friend to many. India is the world’s emerging democratic superpower, and this is an important sign of the mutual trust that exists between Australia and India.”
Asked how he could be sure that Australian uranium would go to well-regulated and properly run power stations, he said, “It’s not our job to try to tell India how to conduct its internal affairs... But, one of the things that everyone who’s dealt with India knows, is that their standards are improving all the time... I am here in a country transformed over three decades, talking to Brett Lee and Adam Gilchrist; people who have been coming to India very regularly over the last two decades. They say every year they come here, the place is a little bit better.”
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