Sri Lanka and Australia have enjoyed solid bilateral ties for seven decades, having established diplomatic relations in January 1947, well before Sri Lanka gained independence. It is an event worth celebrating. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe begins a four day official visit to Australia today, where he will hold talks with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and will highlight the close affinity between the two nations.
Regardless of the political parties and personalities in power in both countries, this special relationship has gone from strength to strength. This strong relationship is founded on the shared history of cooperation in areas such as education (dating back to the Colombo Plan of 1950s), trade and investment, culture and development as well as links through the Commonwealth.
Sri Lanka and Australia share an eternal passion for cricket, which is the most popular sport in both countries. All Lankans remember with gratitude the support extended by Australia to Sri Lanka to gain Test status in 1981. From the stunning World Cup victory over Australia in 1996 to the Shane-Murali trophy, the cricket rivalry between the two countries will endure the test of time. In fact, the Premier’s visit will coincide with the Sri Lankan team’s T20 Series with Australia starting in Melbourne on February 17.
Sri Lankans have another reason for their affinity to Australia. Practically every Sri Lankan has a friend or relative who is either studying or living in Australia. There are more than 100,000 Sri Lankans permanently domiciled in Australia, mostly in the major cities such as Melbourne and Sydney. Australia has been an attractive destination for legal migration for young Sri Lankan families and every year, hundreds of Sri Lankans with professional skills take up permanent residency Down Under.
Unfortunately, Australia is also a magnet for illegal economic migrants from many countries in Asia. A few years ago, hundreds of such migrants undertook a dangerous sea voyage from Sri Lanka in rickety boats with the aim of reaching Australian shores. Most of them were rounded up before reaching Australian waters. The Navies/Coastguards of Sri Lanka and Australia worked with the International Organisation on Migration (IOM) to stem this tide and now it is unheard of. The Australian Government regularly runs TV and press advertisements in the two vernacular languages warning would-be illegal migrants that they will not be able to enter Australia illegally. However, both countries should be able to work out a formula where Australia opens up more legal employment and migration opportunities for Sri Lankans.
Both countries should also strive to improve people-to-people contact between the two nations. On average, 75,000 Australians visit Sri Lanka every year. There is a potential for increasing this number to at least 100,000, but the lack of a direct air link between the two countries is a problem. We hope Prime Minister Wickremesinghe will bring this matter up during his talks with the Australian authorities.
Direct flights to Sydney and Melbourne will see a dramatic surge in visitor arrivals at either end. SriLankan Airlines, which has operated to Australia earlier, must explore the possibility of starting direct flights, along with its Oneworld Alliance partner Qantas. Direct flights will obviate the need to change planes at Singapore Changi/Kuala Lumpur/Hong Kong and reduce travel time by several hours.
Trade relations between two countries must improve vastly. Two-way trade has grown strongly at 9.5 per cent year-on-year to A$ 951 million (2015). In 2015, Australia’s investments in Sri Lanka totaled A$ 47 million. These figures are encouraging, but more needs to be done. The Premier’s interactions with the Australian business community will hopefully translate into solid investments.
Education plays a significant role in Australia’s bilateral relationship with Sri Lanka. Australia is the second most popular tertiary study destination for international students originating from Sri Lanka with around 6,000 Sri Lankan students studying in Australia in 2016. This has also become a pathway for legal migration to Australia for Sri Lankans.
Sri Lanka and Australia have unique ecosystems that have evolved over millennia thanks to relative geographical isolation. The two countries can learn from each other when it comes to nature conservation. Both countries also have indigenous populations – Wanniyela Aththo (Sri Lanka) and Aborigines (Australia). This is another sphere that they can cooperate on.
Here in Sri Lanka, we generally include Australia in the broad category of the Northern Hemisphere Western nations, but in reality most Australians (and New Zealanders too) like to align themselves with Asia. There is a debate whether Australia, the island continent, is geographically a part of Asia because it is so close to Asian countries such as Indonesia. But politically, economically and socially, Australia is much closer to Asia than to any other geopolitical bloc. Both countries can play a leading role in defining the future of the Asia Pacific region, the fastest developing region in the world.
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