Australia-India Sports Innovation Summit

I acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which we meet, the Jagera and Turrbal peoples, and I pay my respects to Elders past and present.

Welcome to the Australia-India Sports Innovation Summit.

Australia and India share a long history in sport.

Indeed, it's uncanny how many of the most significant moments of Indian sporting success have involved Australia in some way.

If you're in the room here today, you're no doubt focused on the contest on the cricket pitch in the Border-Gavaskar series between the two top ranked Men's Test teams in the world and locked at 1-1 going into the Brisbane Test, starting at the Gabba tomorrow.

Judging by the tens of thousands of people who engaged with me when I posted a selfie with Virat Kohli at Australian Parliament House recently, there are more than a few people focused on the contest back home in India too.

But our sporting relationship is much broader than that.

My first sporting love was field hockey – an Olympic sport in which Australia and India have both experienced long periods of success.

Indeed, Indian Men's field hockey team won the nation's first Olympic Gold medal as an independent nation in 1948, the first of six consecutive golds won by one of the most dominant dynasties in world sport, a run which included winning the gold medal game in my hometown at the 1956 Olympics played in front of a massive crowd at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

But the connection goes deeper still off the field.

Earlier this year, I had the honour of hosting icons of Indian cinema, Rani Mukerji and Karan Johar at Parliament House to celebrate the 15th Indian Film Festival of Melbourne.

During his visit Karan recalled that the iconic Indian film, Chak De! India, in which Shah Rukh Khan famously plays a former Indian Men's Hockey player who becomes the coach of the Indian Women's Hockey team, leading them to glory.

Indian sporting fans will know that the title song from Chak De! India has now become a powerful symbol of Indian pride and sporting achievement, frequently sung by adoring crowds after moments of Indian sporting glory.

What these fans may not know is that the sporting scenes from the movie were filmed at the State Hockey Centre in Royal Park, again, in my hometown of Melbourne.

So for Indian friends in the audience, just remember that every time you hear Chak De! India in a moment of sporting ecstasy, there's a little bit of Australian DNA present.

Australia just seems to be there for big moments in India sporting history or moments of national pride.

Thankfully, the Indian men's hockey team didn't blast out Chak De! India when they defeated Australia at the recent Paris Olympics, their first Olympic victory over the Kookaburra's since the 1972 Munich Olympics, on their way to the Bronze medal.

Who knows, though, maybe a future Indian Cricket Captain will get the chance to sing Chak De! India after winning an Olympic Gold medal in the Cricket at the Brisbane Olympic Games in 2032?

Though it seems unlikely given they'd have to beat an Australian men's or women's team on home soil.

Good luck with that.

Somehow it seems more likely to me that an Australian women's cricket team captain would win Gold at a future Indian Olympic Games, though we'll need to work on developing an Australian sporting song with some Indian DNA in the making in the meantime.

All of this is to say that Sport brings us together as peoples and as nations.

So I thank the Centre of Australia-India Relations, in partnership with Trade Investment Queensland and Cricket Australia, for hosting an event like this to bring us together to talk about how we can build on this engagement off the pitch.

Australia is a sporting nation.

We love to play, watch, volunteer and compete in sports at every level: from the world-stage to the local community club.

13.5 million adults and 3.6 million children – more than half of all Australians – take part in sport every year.

Over 3 million volunteer every year.

220,000 Australians are directly employed in the sports industry.

Which is a fairly significant 2 per cent of the Australian workforce.

Sports delivers $83 billion a year in combined economic, health and education benefits to all Australians.

We're eight years away from the Brisbane Olympic and Paralympic Games, so of course, those figures will only increase.

Just down the road at the Queensland Academy of Sport, athletes are training in high performance science labs and recovering in cutting-edge health suites, aided by some of the world's top sport scientists, dietitians and doctors.

There are so many possibilities for collaboration between Australia and India.

Australia is a natural partner for India in sport.

Few other countries have Australia's world-class reputation for high performance excellence.

Few other countries have Australia's shared sporting history with India – epitomised by cricket, but stretching across so many sporting codes and institutions.

No other country has Australia's most up-to-date experience of successfully bidding for the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

And finally, no other country will have Australia's first-hand experience of hosting an Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2032.

Our leaders, Prime Minister Modi and Prime Minister Albanese, recognise the unlimited potential of sports as a connector between our nations.

Earlier this year, they made a joint statement where they highlighted sport – specifically, "training and workforce development, sports science and medicine, and major sporting event management" – as one of the priorities for cooperation in our bilateral relationship.

We've already had some significant achievements working together in sport.

Australian firm Populus' helped design the iconic Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad.

Australia is building more connections with India through a sports management program for coaches and trainers, that includes providing football coaching clinics for girls in vulnerable communities.

Last year we co-hosted a first of its kind Women in Sport International Conference in Mumbai, focused on women's participation, retention and performance in sports.

We have a Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in Sports in place.

There are limitless possibilities for cooperation across the full range of areas…

Sporting performance – for example – sport science, hosting major sporting events, technology and innovation, athlete development and coaching, sports infrastructure, and media, communication and international broadcasting.

Australia recognises the power and the potential of sport.

As a touchstone of national identity, inclusion and civic pride.

As a driver of economic growth and as an engine for jobs creation.

As an integral part of our diplomacy.

That's why Australia has a National Sport Strategy and why we are refreshing our existing Sports Diplomacy Strategy.

And that's why the Centre for Australia-India Relations has made sport such a big part of their engagement program.

Meanwhile, the overall bilateral relationship is growing rapidly, particularly when it comes to the STEM sectors.

In 2023, we opened an Australian Consulate General in Bengaluru, recognising India is on track to produce 27 per cent of global STEM graduates by 2030.

We have in place an Australia-India Cyber and Critical Technology Partnership.

We've got an Australia India Innovation Network, that is aiming to boost Australian tech companies in the digital sector in India.

We've started a new Strategic and Technology Policy Initiative to fund innovative projects and address our shared challenges.

Finally, let's get to the cricket.

You can't talk about Australia and India sporting cooperation without talking about cricket.

We've got plenty of shared history in every form of the game.

From the Australian men's team win over India in the 2023 ODI World Cup Final in Ahmedabad in front of 125,000 fans, to the Australian Women's team's historic win over the Indian team in the final of the 2020 ICC Women's T20 World Cup in front of 86,000 fans at the MCG.

And of course the recently completed Australia-India Women's One Day International series that the Australian women swept.

The Women's IPL is only two years' old but it is already the most valuable female-only annual sporting tournament in the world, based on TV rights.

As the Foreign Minister Senator Wong recently acknowledged at the WACA in Perth it's clear that sport is not just a platform for competition and economic growth, it's a powerful catalyst for leadership and social change.

In India and in Australia women cricketers are assuming their rightful roles as world-class athletes our societies can look up to, smashing barriers and boundaries along the way.

Friends, this Innovation Summit is the beginning of something big.

Our nations share a rich history of sporting excellence.

The future is full of potential as we deepen our existing ties and expand them into new areas.

At the end of the month, for example, I'm attending the Kabaddi Melbourne Raid in Melbourne.

Finally, we're bringing one of the world's most played sports to our shores.

We are bringing fresh ideas to Australia-India relationship and fresh ideas to the way we do sport.

Now is the time for both sides to consider and propose new ways we can elevate our sports cooperation.

I acknowledge, unfortunately, there are some things that won't be solved by Australian innovation.

I have to accept that no Australian is ever going to be able to replicate Jasprit Bumrah's bowling action.

But maybe that's an innovation India can share with us.

I wish you a great Summit and thank you.