Nitasha Bhatia

Nitasha Bhatia is a Sydney-based policy and international engagement professional with experience across the Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade), the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (PM&C), and the Australian Treasury. She is passionate about strengthening Australia–India relations through cross-cultural dialogue across government, business and community.

She currently leads Austrade’s forward planning for the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games, shaping strategy and whole-of-government coordination to maximise Australia’s international trade, investment, and economic opportunities from the Games.

Her prior work spans South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific, including leading business engagement during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 2023 Australia visit, where she led a CEO Forum involving twenty of Australia’s leading business executives. She has also supported bilateral and Prime Ministerial initiatives with India and the broader Indo-Pacific.

Previously, Nitasha served as Director of the Business Track for the 2024 ASEAN-Australia Summit Taskforce within PM&C, where she played a key role in designing and delivering the Summit’s Business Track. She has contributed to key government reforms at Treasury, including foreign investment policy, and co-designed elements of the Consumer Data Right.Outside government, she founded Haathi (Elephant) in the Room, a not-for-profit addressing mental health stigma in South Asian communities and has contributed to multicultural journalism through Indian Down Under.

Her work has been recognised through the Austrade Australia Day Award (2025) and the Asialink Asian-Australian Leadership Awards (2023), and she was a finalist for the Premier’s Young Journalist Award (2017).