One possible explanation for the government's near silence is Mr Varghese's language around regional security, which was clearly directed at China.

In arguing why Australia and India are aligned geo-politically and are ripe for closer relations, Mr Varghese said both countries support a rules-based international order.

"That order, the product of decades of United States-led investment in global institutions and public goods, is under increasing threat. Its defenders are shrinking and its challengers growing," he writes.

"Since Australia can neither buy nor bully its way in the world, a system based on rules not might is important," he said.

Lower the diplomatic temperature

This will be interpreted as a reference to China, which is perhaps why the government is reticent to promote the report at a time when it is trying to lower the diplomatic temperature with Beijing.

The Trade Minister, who is on a visit to London, said the government would consider the report and respond in due course, while denying there was any effort to downplay its significance.


"This is an excellent report, involving a great deal of work from Peter Varghese and as minister I will sit down in due course and go through it with industry and relevant stakeholders," he said.

"You need to remember it is a report to government, not a report by the government."

This does not explain, however, why the report has been so rapidly downgraded when just a year ago it was a high-profile government priority.

It's commissioning was announced by Mr Turnbull while on a visit to Mumbai, at which point he lauded Mr Varghese as "one of Australia's most capable and agile minds" and someone with a "deep understanding of the relationship".

Such prime ministerial endorsement ensured the report just being commissioned made the front page. It was framed as a practical guide for business and government and an alternative to a free trade deal with New Delhi, which was considered too difficult given India's highly protected economy.

This and Mr Turnbull's focus on the Indo-Pacific, rather than just the Asia Pacific, ensured serious departmental resources were thrown at the project.

In an appendix to the document, Mr Varghese acknowledges 13 Foreign Affairs staff who worked on the report, not to mention the likes of investor Ashok Jacob, former Central Bank governor Glenn Stevens and Future Fund chairman Peter Costello who were part of its reference group.


And then there's Mr Varghese himself. According to the AusTender website he entered into a contract valued at $171,000 with the department to oversee the report, which took just over a year to complete, and for which he travelled to Singapore, Japan, Germany, the US, Britain and Canada to see how they were approaching relations with India.

That's a huge effort and expense for a report the government is doing its best to ignore. For context it's worth contrasting how the Gillard government treated Ken Henry's Australia in the Asia Century White Paper in 2012. It was released to the media on a Sunday and launched as part of a major foreign policy speech by Ms Gillard the next day.

Higher priority

Such government attention ensured it was a big deal. The Australian Financial Review ran two stories on its front page on the Monday and Tuesday and followed up with eight pages inside on day one and six the next.

The Varghese report has attracted a single news story from AAP and a couple of tweets.

Apart from the paragraphs around the region's growing strategic competition, the report itself is mainly a blueprint for greater business and government engagement with India.

"Australia needs an ambitious India strategy," Mr Varghese writes.

"Today the risk is that we are not moving fast enough and Australia might fall behind as other countries accord India a higher priority. This is already happening in some areas."

Mr Varghese said Australia should strive to lift India to a top three export market by 2035, make it the third largest destination for outbound investment and ultimately "bring India into the inner circle of Australia's strategic partnerships".

"From Australia's perspective it is India's liberal democratic and secular character which provides a foundation for this evolving strategic congruence," he writes.

To add further confusion to the issue, the Varghese report was considered such a good idea, Indian Trade Minister Prabhu commissioned his department to do a similar study from New Delhi's perspective during his visit to Australia last month.