Former ministerial adviser Nitin Gupta says it is too early to form a view on Opposition Leader Jess Wilson’s economic credentials until the Liberals spell out a clear Trade Engagement Program with India and a broader Victoria–India strategy.
Speaking to The Indian Sun, Nitin said recent debate around social media and voting behaviour among Indian Australians needs to be understood in a global context. He argued that political language itself has become distorted across borders, particularly online.
“If you follow social media feeds from India, back there the terms like ‘Left’, ‘Socialists’ and ‘Liberals’ are often clubbed together,” he said. “The ‘Liberals’ and ‘communists’ may be seen as one joint entity. There are slangs like ‘Liberandu’ and others for being an extreme Centre left politics supporter back in India.”
He said that on Indian social media, the word Liberal is often associated with a set of labels that would surprise Australian audiences. “The Liberal word back in India can be also causally clubbed with terms like ‘urban-naxals’, ‘wokes’, ‘andolanjeevis’, ‘pseudo seculars’, ‘pseudo feminists’, etc on the social media. It may look paradoxical, but that is the story currently back in India.”
Nitin said this creates a paradox for Indian Australians who lean towards centre-right politics. “In India, specially in social media feeds, the Liberals are loosely understood to be Centre Left of politics, who are against the conservative thought,” he said. “Most social media sites are based in US, where again the meaning of ‘Liberal’ is quite different, than what side of politics the Liberal party stands for in Australia.”
He contrasted that with the local political reality. “While in Victoria and Australia, the Liberal party stands for Centre Right and conservative or aspirational side of politics,” he said. “So the Australian Indians who support Centre Right of politics may still not be voting for Liberal party in Australia, and the social media paradox may be one of the reasons for that.”
Nitin said the challenge for Jess Wilson and the Liberal Party is to cut through that confusion. “The challenge for Jess, and Liberal party in general is to get the message out loud and clear in the Australian Indian community, that they stand for Centre Right and conservative or aspirational side of politics,” he said. “Currently because of social media feeds, the messaging can be confusing.”
He believes the solution lies in sustained engagement. “And for that to happen they need to extensively engage with the Australian Indian media, and community to get the message out what exactly the Liberal party stands for,” he said.
Looking ahead to the November 2026 Victorian state election, Nitin said the outcome remains open. “There is still some time left till the next Victorian state elections. It should be a pretty close contest is all I can say at the moment,” he said.
He cautioned that elections are often decided as much by government fatigue as by opposition strength. “In elections sometimes it’s the Opposition that wins the elections by putting up a good fight, and coming out with good alternative plans and policies,” he said. “And sometimes it’s the government that looses the elections for various reasons. Being in government for a long period can bring down a government sometimes, despite opposition not coming out with good alternative plans and policies.”
‘Being in government for a long period can bring down a government, despite opposition not coming out with good alternative plans and policies’
Nitin described both Premier Jacinta Allan and Jess Wilson as formidable campaigners. “Both Premier Allan, and the new Opposition leader Jess Wilson are pretty good fighters. It would be a very close call I think,” he said.
While he acknowledged Wilson’s early momentum, he said substance will matter. “Jess has made a good start. But she is yet to come out with any specific election winning policy. It’s just been a generic pitch till now from her side,” he said.
He warned that time is not on the Opposition’s side. “It would be difficult for Jess to win around seventeen seats without extensive engagement with multicultural communities and media,” he said. “With most of the news in mainstream media hiding behind paywalls, the engagement with multicultural media has become even more significant than what it used to be in the past.”
On that front, he said Labor holds a clear edge. “In terms of engaging with multicultural communities and media, as of now Premier Allan has a really huge advantage,” he said.
Nitin pointed to developments interstate as a contrast. “In NSW, the newly appointed Opposition leader Kellie Sloane was pretty quick to make a trip to Little India,” he said. “I am not aware of Jess making any similar visit yet in Victoria.”
Given the scale of Victoria’s multicultural population, he said Wilson will need to act decisively. “Jess does not have the time factor on her side to cover the vast multicultural population in Victoria, so she would need to come out with few creative and innovative policies that would appeal to multicultural voters,” he said.
With Wilson signalling that the economy will be her central focus, Nitin said scrutiny should now turn to trade and business policy. “Since Jess has been pretty clear that her focus would be economy, so I would be keen to hear her detailed economic, business and trade plans and policies for the multicultural sector, specially with regards to TEPI and Victoria’s India strategy,” he said.
He recalled that the last detailed Liberal plan in this space dates back more than a decade. “As far as I can remember the last Liberal opposition leader to address the Australia Indian Business Council, or any other purely Australian Indian business body, was Mr. Ted Baillieu who did it as an Opposition leader in Feb 2010,” he said.
Nitin said Baillieu had gone to that forum with substance. “Ted had specific TEPI and Victoria’s India strategy and business related policies and plans in place, and they were released at a relevant business forum, the AIBC in Feb 2010,” he said. “It included the announcement of opening a Victorian government business office in Mumbai if elected as Premier.”
He contrasted that with what followed. “As a Premier, Dr Dennis Napthine never attended any Australian Indian specific business forum, or launched any such policy or plans,” he said. “Neither did Premier Napthine lead any trade delegation to India.”
Since 2014, he said, Liberal engagement has thinned further. “I am not aware of any Victorian Liberal opposition leader releasing any detailed Australia India related trade or economic policy, or addressing any relevant Australian Indian business forum or AIBC or Chamber of Commerce event after 2014,” he said. “There have been five opposition leaders since 2014.”
By comparison, he said Labor has maintained visibility. “Both Premier Daniel Andrews and Premier Jacinta Allan lead trade delegations to India and have spoken at India related business forums,” he said. “Both these visits had got decent media coverage on the social media, and also in the Australian Indian media.”
Nitin acknowledged that Matthew Guy made some attempts as Opposition Leader, including a visit to India and the announcement in 2018 of appointing Lakshyaraj Singh Mewar as a Victorian Business Ambassador. “The policy was received pretty well by the community,” he said. “But surprisingly the same policy was not repeated by Mr Guy again in 2022.”
He also noted that Brad Battin had spoken about India as a priority partner in 2025 but did not follow through with detail. “In June 2025, Brad Battin during a multicultural media meet vowed that a future Liberal government would make India as Victoria’s top priority partner for trade, education, tourism, and investment,” he said. “But in the following next few months he never came out with any detailed plans or policies to back his statement.”
For Nitin, the gap is clear. “The last Liberal Opposition leader to visit India, follow up that visit with innovative and detailed plans and policies for TEPI and Victoria’s India strategy, release some of those plans at a relevant Australia India business forum, and get that India visit and the relevant events and policies extensive coverage in the Australian Indian media was Mr Ted Baillieu,” he said.
Looking ahead, he said expectations are now firmly on Jess Wilson. “I sincerely hope that Jess can come up with some innovative plans for the TEPI and Victoria’s India strategy, and would release it at a relevant business forum pretty soon,” he said.
He also raised questions about timing and representation. “I hope she can reassure that if and when she leads a trade delegation to India, it would be at a better time slot like Jan, Feb or Mar window,” he said, adding that he hopes she would be accompanied by a full-time Australian Indian adviser.
Nitin said any credible India strategy must also recognise where spending power lies. “Combined the entire Deepotsav or Diwali and great Indian wedding season spendathon is around US$250 billion dollars worth of economy spend, and growing,” he said. “I am not aware of any mention of these two spendathons in the TEPI or Victoria’s India strategy currently.”
He said appointing well-connected business ambassadors could help Victoria tap into that market. “I also hope that Jess can come up with few names of Business Ambassadors who have connections with Victorian Indian community, and can help Victoria target the two main Indian spendathon seasons,” he said.
Until then, Nitin said judgement should be reserved. “After 2014, there has been no significant policy work from the Liberal party in the TEPI and Victoria’s India strategy area sadly,” he said. “Jess and her team have plenty of work to do in this area, and then back it up by articles and engagement in multicultural media as well.”
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