Prime Minister Narendra Modi's third visit to Australia has ended with a flurry of announcements on energy, defence and trade, with Australia's Federal Minister for Resources, Madeleine King, telling NDTV in an exclusive interview that the two nations are entering a new phase of their relationship, one built firmly around uranium, critical minerals and resilient supply chains.
Speaking to NDTV's Senior Executive Editor Aditya Raj Kaul shortly after a lunch hosted by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for PM Modi at the Melbourne Cricket Ground's Lawn Room, Minister King described the visit as a "joyful, very happy occasion" capping off what she called an even bigger and louder chapter in India-Australia ties than Modi's landmark 2014 trip.
Uranium Deal Finally Takes Off
The centrepiece of the visit was a fresh push on uranium exports to India, an idea first floated under the 2015 civil nuclear agreement but which failed to gain real traction after an earlier attempt in 2010. According to King, what has changed is the world around both countries. Disruptions to global energy supplies, most notably through the conflict in the Middle East and the resulting turbulence at the Strait of Hormuz, have made energy security a shared priority rather than an afterthought.
Australia's uranium exports to India, she noted, build on a trade relationship that stretches back further than most people realise. Coal was, in fact, Australia's first-ever commodity export, shipped to India as far back as the 1790s. Now, with what King described as "thorough administrative agreements" in place, that centuries-old energy relationship is extending into nuclear fuel, a critical piece of PM Modi's plan to decarbonise India's economy.
Critical Minerals: Breaking A Single Supplier's Grip
Beyond uranium, the interview turned to critical minerals and rare earths, an area where both India and Australia have deepened cooperation this year through their joint participation in supply-chain initiatives discussed at meetings in Washington and Delhi. King was candid about the urgency: the global market for critical minerals is currently dominated by a single supplier, and export restrictions from that source have exposed just how fragile existing supply chains are.
Australia, she said, has the geological advantage but needs greater investment to move beyond extraction and into processing, and she's hoping Indian companies will step in as partners in that effort. She pointed to Adani's existing investment in the Carmichael coal mine in Queensland as a template for the kind of deeper industrial collaboration she wants to see repeated in the critical minerals space, given how central these materials are to everything from mobile phones and electric vehicles to national security and defence manufacturing.
Trade Deal Momentum And A Cricket Diplomacy Twist
On the long-pending comprehensive trade agreement between the two countries, King confirmed a senior Australian business delegation is expected to travel to India in December, raising expectations of further announcements on the economic front. She said she hopes to be part of that delegation herself and added that PM Albanese has a personal fondness for India, having backpacked through the country in his younger years.
In a lighter moment, the conversation touched on cricket diplomacy, with King revealing plans for a Big Bash League match to be played in Chennai between the Melbourne Renegades and her own team, the Perth Scorchers, a nod to how sport continues to run alongside diplomacy and trade in the India-Australia relationship.
Indian Community At The "Bedrock" Of The Relationship
King also reflected on PM Modi's address to an estimated 30,000-strong Indian community gathering in Melbourne the previous night, echoing the prime minister's sentiment that the Indian community brings energy and value wherever it settles. As a minister from Western Australia, a state with a significant Indian population, she said the contribution of the community, along with the steady flow of Indian students studying in Australia, forms what she called the "bedrock" of the bilateral relationship.
The Bigger Picture
Taken together, the interview underscores how India and Australia are recalibrating their partnership at a moment when global energy and mineral supply chains are under strain. With uranium exports moving from agreement to implementation, critical minerals cooperation gathering pace, and a trade deal edging closer with a business delegation set for December, both sides appear to be betting that shared geography across the Indian Ocean and a shared passion for cricket can finally translate into the kind of economic partnership officials on both sides have long talked about but rarely delivered at scale.
