Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Can the Prime Minister update the House on the visit by President-elect Prabowo Subianto? How is the government strengthening our relationship with Indonesia?

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to 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.

Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

on indulgence—I want to offer our full support to the efforts of the government here and congratulate the Prime Minister, and the Deputy Prime Minister as well, on advancing the relationship. I had the great fortune to meet with the now President-elect and then defence minister, Prabowo, in Jakarta a couple of years ago. His appreciation for Australia and his genuine interest in the relationship and the friendship was obvious during the course of that meeting, but it has been obvious during the course of his career. I believe very strongly, as the Prime Minister does, that Indonesia and Australia have a shared past but it is incredibly important for us to ensure that the future is even more emboldened, as well as the fact that we can work together closely not just on defence matters but on national security and otherwise—on people movements, on drugs and on illegal fishing within the region. Indonesia obviously brings a very significant effort to making sure that with near neighbours we can protect and defend our equities as we go forward. I welcome any opportunity to work with the Prime Minister and to support the work of the government in what is a very important bilateral agreement, arrangement and friendship between our two countries.