Alexander Downer (Mayo, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I am pleased to inform the House that my Indonesian counterpart, Hassan Wirajuda, and I signed the Australia-Indonesia Agreement on the Framework for Security Cooperation, as the Treaty of Lombok is formally called, in Indonesia on 13 November. This is a historic agreement, and it will provide a bedrock for the bilateral relationship between Indonesia and Australia for many years to come. So, even if there are difficulties in that relationship from time to time, we will have this bedrock of the relationship.

It will of course provide a framework for dialogue exchanges but will also, importantly, provide for the implementation of joint activities in areas such as law enforcement cooperation, counter-terrorism, defence, maritime security, people trafficking, and emergency management and response. It also includes a clear support by both countries for each other’s territorial integrity. It is an unambiguous statement by both our countries that we will not support the break-up of each other’s countries. Obviously, it is hardly likely that Indonesia would support the break-up of Australia, but the Australian government would not in any circumstances support the break-up of Indonesia. That has been the position of Australian governments for a very long time. This agreement will in no way derogate from domestic laws in our country.

Finally, let me make this point: the agreement will be subject to full public parliamentary scrutiny before it is ratified. I have written to the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties, which is chaired by the member for Boothby, to advise of my intention to table the agreement in parliament when all the paperwork is completed, which is likely to be during the course of next week.

In short, as Dr Wirajuda has said, this agreement reflects the maturity of Australia-Indonesia relations as close neighbours and is an important landmark for the future. I think it will serve future generations of Australians and Indonesians very well by allowing us to work very closely together to deal with the sorts of modern threats which could affect Australians and Indonesians.

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