"Remember, there is half a million Australians of Indian background and it's the largest single part of our migration program nowadays, so the Australia-India connection is very, very strong," he said. "It's built not just on meetings between prime ministers but on thousands, if not millions, of connections between Australians and Indians."

It was a proud national boast.

A week later and Turnbull is in Australia, where the mechanisms governing such movements are described from the other end - an end where the words feel harsher, and the arithmetic a degree more exclusive.

"We are putting Australian values at the heart of citizenship processes and requirements," he said, announcing aggressive new citizenship testing, just 24 hours after unveiling the most significant crimping of the skilled temporary visa category undertaken in years.

"Membership of the Australian family is a privilege and should be afforded to those who support our values, respect our laws and want to work hard by integrating and contributing to an even better Australia."

The politics are all too obvious. The changes will be popular with many Australians. Indeed, that much Turnbull is banking on.

While the tonal shift was not missed in Delhi, this was the domestic Turnbull - the one trailing in the polls and harried on a daily basis by a right-wing insurgency that threatens to widen at the first hint of the old moderate Malcolm returning.

It is no coincidence that simultaneously several countries are pursuing more restrictive rules on entry and citizenship amid growing concerns over terrorism, and jobs. Think Britain, the US, Australia, New Zealand and many parts of Europe.

Turnbull's switch cannot be divorced from this global-political context: a rising anxiety over race, religion and economic dislocation. Xenophobia is the new black - or is it white?

Fortunately, Australia's changes remain largely rhetorical, and tougher citizenship requirements will still be eminently navigable for those genuinely wanting to settle and contribute.

Australians should not be reluctant to reinforce fundamental values such as the absolute non-acceptance of violence against women and children - including female genital mutilation - and the rights of women to equal access to jobs, property, legal redress, etc.

But it would be a pity if in doing so, other core Australian values were trashed: those going to tolerance, multiculturalism, and freedom from persecution.

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