Sri Lanka and Australia have held discussions on expanding trade and tourism ties, with Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath meeting several members of the Australian Parliament from Victoria during the Australia leg of his ongoing New Zealand–Australia visit.
The afternoon meeting on 31 May followed the Wellington leg of the trip and the opening of Sri Lanka’s new High Commission in New Zealand, which the minister inaugurated alongside bilateral engagements with NZ Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Sri Lankan-origin NZ opposition foreign affairs spokesperson Vanushi Walters.
Herath said on X that the two sides explored avenues for parliamentary cooperation, government-to-government partnerships, support for the Sri Lankan diaspora and expanded trade and tourism links, Ada Derana reported. The minister also thanked the Victorian MPs for their continued support to the Sri Lankan community in Australia, which is one of the largest Sri Lankan diaspora populations globally.
Sri Lanka’s diaspora in Australia was estimated at around 184,800 people in the 2025 Australian Bureau of Statistics census release, with Melbourne and the wider Victoria state hosting one of the most concentrated communities. Bilateral engagement on tourism comes against a backdrop of Australia recently tightening student-visa processing for Sri Lankan applicants, with refusal rates rising to 38 per cent earlier this year.
Separately on Sunday evening, Herath addressed a community gathering of Sri Lankans living in Melbourne at the Springvale Town Hall, Newswire reported. The minister said the event — organised by Sri Lankans in the city — drew a “large turnout” and gave him an opportunity to listen to diaspora concerns and explain the government’s policy direction. He added he hopes to meet Sri Lankan communities in other Australian cities later in the trip.
Herath’s ten-day visit, from 26 May to 3 June, is the highest-level Sri Lankan foreign ministry engagement with Wellington and Canberra since the National People’s Power government took office in late 2024.
Sources: Ada Derana — Sri Lanka, Australia seek to expand trade and tourism ties · Newswire — Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath meets Sri Lankan community in Melbourne · NewsFirst — Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath meets Sri Lankan community in Melbourne.
