NSW Premier Chris Minns has landed in India for a four-day trade mission, which he says will strengthen cultural, education and economic links, and show his state is still “welcoming” immigration amid the rise of One Nation.
Mr Minns made the comments during a visit to a charity in a New Delhi slum, where he took part in a game of street cricket, and said he wanted Indian immigrants in Australia to know that they have his support.
“I want to make Indian Australians proud of the relationship,” he said.
“The New South Wales government and its leadership has got their back. We believe they’re hugely important for our future and we think that they’re proud Aussies who love our country.”
Mr Minns said NSW’s 200,000 Indian-born residents was an “enormous advantage” for that state, and that he wanted to use them to attract more Indian investment, The Daily Telegraph reported.
When asked about the growing popularity of One Nation, which is one point ahead of Labor according to the latest Newspoll and won a by-election in Western Australia on the weekend, Mr Minns admitted “we are concerned about it”.
“I think it would be disingenuous to see the massive rise in One Nation’s vote share and brush it off,” he said.
“I think there’s been a change in the voting intentions for a large number of Australians, and clearly a lot of them are thinking about voting for One Nation. Now, we’re up for that challenge, that’s going to be an arm wrestle between now and March of next year, but we are up for that debate.”
Mr Minns also attended a launch event for Western Sydney University’s campus in India, which he said would strengthen education ties between India and NSW, and again praised Australia’s Indian diaspora.
“We’re proud of our multicultural community, including 200,000 young Australians with Indian heritage, which we’re very proud of and have now linked with the fastest-growing economy in the world,” he said.
Header image: Left, Mr Minns visits a slum in Delhi (ABC News). Right at the launch of WSU’s India campus (WSU).
