Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

Australia's economic future is entwined with the economies of Asia. Our prosperity and security are connected to what happens in this very region. Tomorrow, at the East Asia Summit and then the ASEAN meeting, is an important occasion for Australia to advance our interests. That is why my government has made serious, sustained and consistent engagement in our region an absolute priority.

Tomorrow in Jakarta, together with Senator Wong, I'll be launching the invested Australia Southeast Asia Economic Strategy to 2040. This has been developed by Nick Moore, the Special Envoy for Southeast Asia, and I do want to thank Nicholas for the extraordinary work that he has done. This is the most substantive piece of work ever done about Australia's relations when it comes to our economic future with South-East Asia—the opportunity to create prosperity, create jobs here and lift living standards in our region. This is of course tied as well with national security issues. When you live living standards and provide opportunity and build those relationships, as I have with people like President Widodo, what you do is you strengthen our position. We have Indonesia, one of the world's largest economies and one of the world's largest democracies, just on our doorstep, but the truth is it's not even in our top trading partners. We need to do better. This blueprint does just that. It provides an opportunity to maximise those opportunities for Australian businesses and workers in the most dynamic region in the world.

South-East Asia is a centre of global activity and business. More trade and more investment with ASEAN mean more jobs at home. Mr Moore has identified 10 priority sectors with growth potential, including agriculture, resources, renewable energy and education. I'll announce tomorrow the first steps that we're taking to implement this strategy.

This will be an important visit, and I thank President Widodo for once again hosting a very important international gathering. It will be followed by the G20 meeting being hosted by Prime Minister Modi in India, and in between I will have the first bilateral visit by an Australian leader to the Philippines in over two decades. That is important as well. They're an important nation for us, for our security and for our economic growth, as well as, of course, the diaspora of those three countries being important for people-to-people links.

This is an important document that we will release tomorrow. Australia's security and prosperity is always best served when we take a seat at the table, and that's precisely what my government, through the leadership of people like the Foreign Minister, Penny Wong; the trade minister, Don Farrell; and the defence minister, Richard Marles, are doing in our region.

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