ABSTRACT
The early promise of close relations between India and Australia has been slow to materialise. While the two countries' shared concerns and complementary interests suggested that they would develop a close partnership, political authorities failed in the past to capitalise on this, focusing instead on what they considered more crucial national objectives. It has long been recognised that India and Australia have much in common. Analysts have pointed to features deriving from their common colonial heritage, including the institutions and traditions of parliamentary democracy, and have noted their compatible developmental priorities. There has been a progressive improvement in Indo-Australian relations since the end of the Cold War. Indo-Australian economic convergence is taking place within an environment of deepening economic globalisation, which is impacting on all but the most isolated of states. Traditionally, political issues have provided the most serious impediments to closer Indo-Australian relations, and it is only to be expected that they would prove the most difficult to overcome.
