We have told and are in touch with Indian authorities about it, we also had conversations with India and both countries underlined the same, Australia’s High Commissioner to India, Philip Green said on the report of Indian spies in Australia.
“In any bilateral relationship, there could be road bumps but our strategic and economic partnership have great potential and will get velocity in days to come. Still, we believe in putting the rule of law and sovereignty above anything,” Green added.
Earlier, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong stressed the necessity of upholding democratic ideals, even in the face of “any suggestion of foreign interference.”
Wong said that while they don’t comment on intelligence matters, at a level of principle about democracy, I think you would have heard me and other Ministers on many occasions assert the importance of our democratic principles, assert the importance of ensuring that we maintain the resilience of our democracy, including in the face of any suggestion of foreign interference and we have laws to deal with that.”
Last week, ABC reported that Indian spies were kicked out of Australia after being caught trying to steal secrets about sensitive defence projects and airport security, as well as classified information on Australia’s trade relationships.
On the Indo-Pacific, Green said that even though the globe is today inundated with security challenges, such as total scale land war in Europe or horrific warfare and terrorism in the Middle East, Australia has a level of concentration on such things.