Ministerial colleagues, Mr Nicholas Moore and distinguished guests, it is an honour to be here with some of Southeast Asia and Australia’s most eminent business leaders.
I’m pleased to welcome you to the great city of Melbourne for the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit to commemorate 50 years of Dialogue Relations.
I begin by acknowledging the Traditional Owners of the lands on which we meet – the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung people – and I pay my respects to their Elders, past and present.
As we meet to renew our commitment to ASEAN centrality – this forum is a celebration of ASEAN vitality.
The dynamism and drive of businesses and workers and economies that – combined – will represent the 4th largest economy in the world by 2040.
Your businesses are helping generate that growth and success.
The Government I lead has made it clear: more than any other region, Southeast Asia is where Australia’s future lies.
In 2022, our two-way trade with ASEAN Member States passed $178 billion – greater than our two-way trade with Japan or the US.
And our two-way investment with the region was worth $307 billion.
But we want to do more – to support regional growth and to realise mutual benefits.
To deepen our ties and to boost the skills of our people.
Australia has a huge amount to offer.
Ours is a substantial and innovative G20 economy, blessed with huge stores of world-class raw materials, and the know-how and skills base, to compete in the future economy.
So there is room for much stronger economic partnerships between us.
That’s why I was proud to launch Invested: Australia’s Southeast Asia Economic Strategy to 2040 in Jakarta last year.
Developed by Nicholas Moore, our Special Envoy for Southeast Asia, who brought huge experience to the task.
The strategy is the product of extensive consultations throughout the region.
Over 750 meetings with businesses, governments and diaspora leaders.
Almost 200 submissions.
All leading to recommendations representing the most significant upgrade of Australia’s economic engagement with ASEAN for a generation.
Responding to the speed of the transformation underway – and the scale of the opportunities ahead.
A key part of this, as I announced in Jakarta last year, is what we’re calling Deal Teams to identify opportunities for investors, our Southeast Asia Business Exchange, and the Placements and Internships Pilot Program for Young Professionals.
I know many of you have helped with the development of the Economic Strategy, I am sure you will be able to see where your insights have shaped our work.
Australia and Southeast Asia must together face this moment with a sense of optimism – and urgency.
Because while there is so much untapped potential – there is not unlimited time.
We must act together – and we must act now:
To engage the digital economy to support our region’s social and economic development.
To turn our commodities into higher-value exports in competitive global markets.
To back equality for women in business leadership.
And to leverage our expertise and technology to meet the region’s shared energy security needs.
This is what we can achieve by expanding our two-way trade and investment links, and advancing our mutual economic prosperity and security.
We want to build on the upgraded ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area and implement the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement.
We want to ensure businesses in Southeast Asia can access the markets that are available in Australia, including in infrastructure and the clean energy transition.
Acting on climate change is an environmental necessity for our region – it is also a transformative economic opportunity.
I spoke earlier about steps the Government has already taken to implement the blue print of our Southeast Asia Economic Strategy to 2040.
I am pleased today to announce our response to another key recommendation of the Economic Strategy, which is our decision to establish a $2 billion Southeast Asia Investment Financing Facility, managed by Export Finance Australia.
Demonstrating the value Australia can add – as an exporter of knowledge, and a sharer of expertise.
This builds on our infrastructure technical assistance in the region, particularly our Partnerships for Infrastructure Program where we are committing another $140 million.
This will support ASEAN’s efforts to improve infrastructure development – including early-stage project preparation – and accelerate regulatory reform in order to attract more diverse, quality infrastructure finance.
The combination of these three key initiatives from the Economic Strategy – the Facility, Partnerships for Infrastructure and Deal Teams – will catalyse greater Australian private sector investment in Southeast Asia and vice versa.
Another recommendation we are actioning is the appointment of ten Business Champions, some of whom are in the room today.
Our Champions are senior Australian business leaders – many of them are here today and I want to thank them. They will be key advocates for Australia’s trade and investment ties with the countries of Southeast Asia.
We’re also launching new ‘Landing Pads’ in Jakarta and Ho Chi Minh City to act as regional hubs to drive Australian technology exports into the region and boost Southeast Asia’s digital transformation.
We’ve seen, with our first Landing Pad in Singapore, that this model helps business scale up their technology and break into markets.
We are always listening to the region and responding to their priorities.
We are improving access to long validity visas for Southeast Asian travellers, beyond our current three-year offering to five and ten year visas. This demonstrates unequivocally that Australia is open for business, tourism, and trade.
We want to create a better environment for business by identifying opportunities for co-investment and dismantling barriers that hold back innovation and enterprise.
Making it easier for all of you to do what you do best.
Create jobs.
Drive growth.
And build the next generation of prosperity for Australia, Southeast Asia and our shared future.
