Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

This is a key aspect of the Defence white paper, particularly in terms of extending Defence's international engagement. We seek to deepen bilateral defence cooperation with Indonesia in five particular areas: counterterrorism, maritime security, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, peacekeeping as I have mentioned, and also intelligence. Minister Ryamizard and I also agreed last week that Australia and Indonesia would reinvigorate our cooperation and engagement in the field of defence science and technology. I think there is enormous potential to build the depth and resilience of our bilateral relationship in that particular area. In fact Australia's Chief Defence Scientist, Dr Alex Zelinsky, met with the head of the Indonesian Defence Ministry Research and Development Agency, Dr Anne Kusmayati, last November. During that meeting, Dr Kusmayati and Dr Zelinsky identified several areas for potential cooperation, and we look forward to welcoming her to Australia in 2017.