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

I thank the member for Solomon for his question and for his deep interest in the relationship between Australia and Indonesia, which is a neighbour to the electorate that the honourable member represents.

Today I welcomed Indonesia's President-elect Prabowo Subianto to Australia. Our partnership with Indonesia is profoundly important to Australia. We'll continue to strengthen our ties as economic partners, security partners and partners in the global transition to net zero, and this morning we announced the conclusion of negotiations on the Australia-Indonesia Defence Cooperation Arrangement. Let's be very clear: when the Deputy Prime Minister travels to Indonesia in the coming days to sign the agreement, this will represent the most significant defence cooperation agreement between Australia and our largest and most important partner in South-East Asia.

It signals our shared commitment to a peaceful and stable region where sovereignty is respected. This will be a legally binding treaty-level defence cooperation agreement that deepens bilateral defence cooperation in key areas, including maritime security, humanitarian assistance and disaster response, peacekeeping, counterterrorism, and education and training. It will enable stronger defence cooperation by supporting increased dialogue and strengthening the interoperability of both of our defence forces. It creates a legally binding framework to conduct cooperative defence activities and includes training and exercises, the exchange of information and personnel and the sharing of scientific and technological data.

This is a great day for Australia and Indonesia and our long friendship. The Deputy Prime Minister hosted the President-elect for lunch. I'll be hosting him for an early dinner this evening. This is an important relationship. We celebrate this year 75 years of diplomatic relations between our two great nations. Indonesia, of course, is on track to be by 2040 one of the largest economies in the world, with a growing middle class and with a real opportunity for Australia to benefit from this relationship.

Deepening our links helps both countries to grow our economies, to support jobs and to strengthen our supply chains. Our partnership on defence and security helps to promote stability and peace in the region. We'll continue to engage, of course, at the ASEAN summit later this year, but Indonesia is also a partner at the PIF. This engagement over coming months will be very important, indeed, for both of our countries.

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