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

I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question. His asking that question is indicative of the bipartisan nature that is there for having the President of the Philippines as our guest here in this chamber for what was a very successful address. It has been a very successful visit. There's also bipartisan support for Australia's hosting of the ASEAN Summit next week. It is important that we commemorate the event 50 years ago when we were the first dialogue partner for ASEAN. Since then, it has enjoyed bipartisan support from governments of both persuasions, who recognise the great privilege that we have of living in proximity to the fastest-growing region of the world in human history. That presents enormous opportunities for Australia. Nicholas Moore has produced a report, Invested: Australia's Southeast Asia economic strategy to 2040, which outlines not just a general strategy for the region but also a country-by-country analysis about what can be achieved through these relationships.

When it comes to the Philippines, for example, it's not just Australian investment in the Philippines; it's Filipino investment here in Australia. This week, they will open the expansion at Melbourne port. Australia's largest container port is, of course, owned by a Philippines based company. They also are significantly investing in renewable energy here in Australia. Next week, under the theme 'a partnership for the future', there will be not just dialogue between every single leader—with the exception, of course, of Myanmar's—coming to Melbourne next week. There'll be a business dialogue as well—an opportunity to increase our trade and economic cooperation. There will be four themes of the conference. The overall summit theme is 'a partnership for the future'. Those four themes are 'maritime cooperation', 'trade and investment', 'climate and energy' and 'emerging leaders'. We know when it comes to maritime that the issues of UNCLOS, as the President of the Philippines said, and of free navigation through the South China Sea and around our trading partners are so important.

Our relationship is strong, and we regard the centrality of ASEAN as a key point of our foreign policy. Our partnership can realise a new generation of security, peace and progress as we each play a role in contributing to maintenance of regional stability and work together to uphold the rules based order and manage the strategic challenges which we face.

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