Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation Committee, , 3:46:45 to 4:03:32
Outcomes of the Prime Minister's diplomatic visits to Timor-Leste and Indonesia, including the Greater Sunrise project.
Topics: Pacific relations, Infrastructure
Speakers: Michelle Chan, Hon Penny Wong, Ellie Whiteaker, Unknown Speaker, Raff Ciccone
>> Okay, welcome back everyone. Um, now Senator Whiteaker, you've got the call.
>> Thank you very much, Chair. Uh, good afternoon. I uh have some questions relating to the prime minister's visit to Tee or Lee in late January for officials. If >> not sure if I >> should wait for a few people to come to >> Hello. Thank you. So, uh, I'm hoping you can take me through the key outcomes of the prime minister's visit to Tee or Lee
Thank you, Senator Michelle Chan, Deputy Secretary South and Southeast Asia Group. Um, it's uh it was a fantastic visit. The prime minister visited uh Dilly on the 28th to the 29th of January and that really secured uh important outcomes for Australia. that included the signing as uh the secretary and the minister have mentioned of the historic uh Paceria joint declaration with Prime Minister Jananna Kushmau. And as Prime Minister um uh as the prime minister noted uh Paceria elevates our friendship to a new level and cementss our cooperation across economic security, development and people-to-people relations right across the board. Um the prime minister also used his visit to reaffirm Australia's really strong and long-standing support for team's participation in Azan u which of course is the most important um regional organization in Southeast Asia. He was in fact the first leader to visit uh team or lest since it became a member of ASEAN in October last year. Um the prime minister also announced Australia would expand our support for team or lest's growth and resilience. Um something which is of uh great importance to Australia. Um that was through a number of um initiatives. One was a pri a new private sector development program to support small and medium business enterprises. Um the two prime ministers also announced the quantum of Australia's commitment to establish a dedicated infrastructure fund to support T-Moday's long-term economic diversification and resilience. And Australia will allocate to that fund a fixed 10% of total states upstream revenue from Greater Sunrise funded entirely out of Australia's share of that. and that would see at least a third of Australia's future revenue from the project provided to team estate through the infrastructure fund. Um, and we would establish that fund in the event any commercially viable solution proposed by the commercial parties is approved by the states consistent with the 2018 maritime boundary treaty and that's regardless of uh where the gas is processed. Um, the prime minister also announced an additional $8.2 $2 million in support for T-Oste's Azan and WTO accessions. Um we've been a long-standing partner for those two processes and that brings um Australia's total assistance to $20 million. Um and finally he announced a new human development initiative to improve um primary health services, nutrition, literacy and uh numeracy.
>> Thank you. Uh there are some really significant um uh announcements uh from the visit. How how was that received on the ground in Tim Oste?
>> Uh it was extremely wellreceived. I don't know if you saw uh some of the footage uh and the photos, but um I think we had hundreds of um uh children on the streets. Uh he had a very warm welcome from both the prime minister and uh President Ramos Hort. And Prime Minister Gus said, and I quote, "Prime Minister Albanese's visit is an important moment in the relationship between our two countries and reflects the depth of friendship, trust, and partnership between Team Orstee and Australia. At a time of global change and uncertainty, team highly values our partnership with Australia. So I don't think you could get a stronger endorsement uh than that."
>> Absolutely. You mentioned in your earlier answer the joint declaration with team moles had a section on prosperity and resilience that included some new details on our engagement with greater on greater sun sunrise. Um can you talk to why that particular development is so important to the team
um I think it's important because um uh team's long-term economic development and prosperity is obviously of great importance to uh Australia. It's uh one of our closest neighbors. Um it has had a a uh longunning uh Bayouan field that has stopped producing. Um so the development of the greater sunrise um uh gas field um is a high priority um uh both for for team and therefore for Australia. Um it will be a very significant contributor to Timolste's um long-term growth uh development and resilience. So um we are very strongly committed to seeing that developed in a way that is commercially uh viable and in line with the 2018 maritime boundary
>> Thank you. Uh I'm going to move on to uh another recent uh visit that the prime minister made to one of our near neighbors uh along with the foreign minister. The prime minister visited Indonesia. Uh could you talk us through the outcomes
Uh that was another I think quite momentous visit. Um Indonesia really matters to us. It's obviously um our largest neighbor. It's the largest economy in Southeast Asia. Um and as as the minister said, our security and our prosperity come from our region. And I think that is that could not be exemplified uh more than uh in the relationship between Australia and uh and Indonesia. And the prime minister again has said that Australia's relationship with Indonesia is based on friendship, trust, mutual respect, and a shared commitment to peace and stability in our region. And that no country is more important to Australia or to the prosperity, security, and stability of the Indopacific than Indonesia. So that's why the trip was so important. There's been um huge progress in the relationship. Um we have a real permanent interest in being not just neighbors because we are we are neighbors but also uh friends and more importantly really strong partners. when the prime minister and the foreign minister visited on the uh 6th of February um the prime minister and presidento signed the Australia Indonesia treaty on common security the Jakarta treaty as uh the secretary mentioned um it takes our defense and security uh cooperation to a new level um and I think it's quite a watershed moment in the bilateral relationship um it's really significant because it commits um it's based on the uh 1995 agreement on maintaining uh security signed by Prime Minister Keading and President Sahhat. Um it commits both countries to uh consult at leader and ministerial level um on matters affecting our common security and to develop such cooperation as would benefit their own security and that of the region. Um it un uh we undertake to consult each other in the case of adverse challenges to either country um or their common security interests and then consider if appropriate measures which might be taken in response either jointly or individually. Um it also commits us to promote mutually beneficial cooperative cooperative activities in the security field. So it's significant because it's a recognition by both countries that the best way to secure peace and stability is uh by acting together and to have that codified at treaty level um is of enormous significance. It um it builds on the uh Lombok treaty of 2006. It builds on the 2024 defense cooperation agreement. Um and I think it's a real reflection of the trust between the two countries. um the political trust and it also really provides a pathway to much closer consultation on security issues and also um greater strategic trust across I think the breadth of the
>> Thank you. I I think you talked a bit in your answer about [clears throat] how important it is but I think it's worth emphasizing. So if you could just perhaps state again how important is this treaty for both of our nations?
Look, it does build on uh existing treaties which are really important for different reasons like the 2006 uh Lombok treaty um which we refer to constantly because in that treaty we commit to each respecting uh sovereignty and territorial integrity um of each other. It builds on the uh 2024 defense cooperation agreement. But this obligation to consult and uh undertaking to consult each other on adverse challenges and then looking at what we might do together in response uh is really significant. It's that reflection of uh political trust and strategic trust that really shows that the relationship is at a at a quite a different level.
I understand that Australia's Southeast Asia special envoy Nicholas Moore and Australia's business champion for Indonesia Jennifer Westerott joined for part of the visit. Could you talk us to us a little bit about how our economic engagement with Indonesia is
progressing? Um that's right. Special envoy uh Nicholas Moira and our business champion for Indonesia Jennifer Westerot were there. I think it really goes to uh the point I made about um how important Indonesia is as our nearest neighbor and as the largest economy in the region. Um we uh we our economic relationship I think is underpinned by uh regional and bilateral free trade agreements including the Indonesia Australia comprehensive economic partnership agreement IASEPA uh which entered into force 5 years ago. Um but we've had a number of initiatives since then including through um Australia's Southeast Asia uh economic strategy to 2040 which is a is a practical roadmap for how we can increase two-way trade and investment with the region. Um but under that um we have um under that uh Southeast Asia economic strategy we we've had a number of um uh business and investor missions to the region and uh Nicholas Moore and Jennifer Westerot were in Jakarta last week for the fifth Australian government supported business mission to Indonesia in the last 18 months. Uh and that's part of 22 missions that have taken place um under the Southeast Asia Economic Strategy. Um I think no other government has been so active in promoting inbound uh foreign investment to Indonesia as as Australia has been and there's been a lot of progress. So two years in under that economic strategy um underpinned by 5 years of expanded market access and certainty under IAPA uh has seen uh trade and investment continue to grow between uh our two countries. two-way trade almost tripled to 35 billion dollars since IASEPA came into force and Australian FDI flows to Indonesia have increased uh in 2025 reaching more than $1 billion. Um and also uh all of that has meant that for the first time in some years Australia is now a top 10 investor in uh Indonesia. So we were number nine last year and that was up from number 11 in 2024.
>> Thank you. that engagement's especially important for my home state of Western Australia. So, thank you very much for that update. Minister, I asked you a couple of days ago in estimates about uh the visit to Indonesia. Uh and I wondered whether perhaps though there was anything you wanted to add about our engagement in the region more broadly.
Thanks very much for the opportunity. So I think the f to start with the principle that our security and our prosperity uh lies in our region. Uh the point that I have made and the prime minister has made is that in these difficult and turbulent times we we cannot just occupy the space. Um and so we don't um you know we don't just live here. We're not just residents. We are architects. And we are building understanding. Uh we're building trust. We're building relationships. We're building economic opportunities. We're building our collective capacity to secure our sovereignty. And the the agreements that Ms. Chan has described and the other work we have done in the relationships in our region are all directed to that end which is uh in in challenging times what do we do uh to sec assure peace stability and prosperity in our region so I see the [clears throat] treaty on common security in pasera and the bookbuk treaty and um uh the two valu agreement and etc etc etc. the all of these agreements as very much um within that paradigm and within that framework. Uh and uh Miss Chan spoke about the Southeast Asian economic strategy which was a policy in opposition which we have uh brought into being in government. Uh and in great part it was really driven by two objectives. uh one is that you know we know historically Australia has really benefited from the growth of the North Asian economies. Western Australia is an obvious example of that. We have had an economic relationship and we have hooked into their growth and that has been to the benefit of both parties. Well, we we need to do that with Azan as well >> as it grows. But the second point is uh really one of the points I think um Miss Chan raised which is you also have to as a partner make sure you understand um the other parties priorities and obviously economic development is central priority for Indonesia and so we had to do more as an economic partner um it's to our benefit but also because it it is an integral part of the uh on the treaty of common security. The way I think about it is it's really a new level. Um it does [clears throat] uh it is about us saying we not only share geographic space but we are uh going to we are recognizing we share strategic space and we are going to treat each other accordingly with a level of strategic trust and consultation uh that we don't offer uh all others or many others. uh and that means that we have uh I think there are two aspects of the agreement which I think are really significant. The first is the ongoing consultation because that is us both saying we know that we are going we need to talk and engage more at leader level at minister level uh as well as at institutional level about how we do this including where uh where we have different perspectives how we sort through that uh or [clears throat] work through that. Then the second aspect which uh Miss Chan talked about is the obligation to consult in the event of something negative happening and that is saying again we want to work together. So I I see it as a different level of commitment. uh and I would just again uh acknowledge the leadership of uh President Pavoa and the Prime Minister uh uh in um uh striking this agreement and the contribution of um foreign minister Sugiano to to this and we we appreciate it greatly.
>> Thank you, Minister. Um Senator Schub.