Australia - Indonesia 1.5 Track Dialogue
Strengthening Australia-Indonesia Relations with 1.5 Track Dialogue
Remarks, check against delivery
November 20, 2025
Hosted by the Australian Institute of International Affairs (AIIA)
Jakarta, Indonesia
Selamat pagi. Salam sejahtera bagi kita semua.
Nama saya Tim Watts.
Saya adalah utusan khusus Australia untuk urusan Samudra Hindia.
I am delighted to be back in Indonesia.
Our two countries share a region and share a future. No nation is more important to the prosperity, security and stability of the Indo-Pacific than Indonesia.
Engagement and dialogue between Australia and Indonesia across all levels is necessary to build the kind of region we want to see.
A region with ASEAN at its centre.
A region that is peaceful, stable, and prosperous, where no country dominates or is dominated, and where all countries have the freedom to decide their own futures, without interference.
Last week, I attended a lunch in Sydney in honour of President Prabowo’s first state visit to Australia as President.
As Prime Minister Albanese said, Australia’s relationship with Indonesia is based on friendship, trust, mutual respect — and a shared commitment to peace and stability in our region.
In President Prabowo’s remarks he said Australia and Indonesia are destined to be neighbours. He said we must approach this destiny with the determination to maintain the best relationship.
Australia and Indonesia share a close historical bond.
We have a common history dating back to trade between Makassan seafarers and the Yolŋu people in Arnhem Land who traded trepang or sea cucumber.
We have also supported Indonesia since the start – which is why it is a particular honour to be here with you in the year of Indonesia’s 80th anniversary of independence.
Australia is proud to have been among the earliest supporters of Indonesian independence, including diplomatically at the United Nations, and through the actions of Australian mariners and dock workers who blocked Dutch vessels with a boycott that began in Sydney Harbour.
Today, Australia and Indonesia are the closest of friends and partners, and our cooperation spans all fields.
Australia and Indonesia have long worked together to address regional and global challenges. Our partnership is more important than ever before in today’s challenging strategic environment.
We are both bounded by the Indian and Pacific Oceans. What happens in these waterways will be strategically central to our futures.
Because of increasingly challenging environment, our defence and security partnership continues to deepen.
Last week, Prime Minister Albanese and President Prabowo announced in Sydney that Australia and Indonesia had substantively concluded negotiations on a new bilateral Treaty on Common Security.
This treaty signals a new era in the Australia-Indonesia relationship. It is recognition by both nations that the best way to secure peace and stability is by acting together.
The rules-based order is under extraordinary pressure but when Australia and Indonesia work together, the region, and the world, listens.
Australia is also committed to deepening our economic engagement with Indonesia, including through Invested: Australia’s Southeast Asia Economic Strategy to 2040.
Australia’s Business Champion for Indonesia, Professor Jennifer Westacott AC, has completed six overseas visits since 2024, continuing to expose Australian business and investors to commercial opportunities in Indonesia.
Australia’s development partnership with Indonesia - our largest in Southeast Asia - supports Indonesia’s economic resilience and promotes regional stability and mutual prosperity.
And education ties are strong and expanding.
More than 200,000 Indonesians have studied in Australia, and Indonesia is the most popular destination for Australian students under the Australian Government’s New Colombo Plan.
Just yesterday I had the privilege of meeting some of these Australian students who are studying at Universitas Gadjah Mada in Jogjakarta.
There are now three Australian universities with campuses in Indonesia: Monash University in Jakarta, Deakin University in Bandung, and University of Western Sydney in Surabaya.
More than ever before, we have to use all tools of statecraft to shape the kind of world we want to see.
That is why today’s 1.5 track dialogue is so important.
We need to enhance dialogue between Australia and Indonesian civil society, public and private sectors, and the media.
I look forward to the productive conversations today on how to best progress Indonesia and Australia’s shared interests and to strengthen cooperation.
