Tim Watts (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

When Indonesia's newly elected President Joko Widodo unveiled Retno Marsudi as his choice for foreign affairs minister, the reaction of Australia was broadly positive. Apart from being our neighbour's first female minister for foreign affairs, Minister Marsudi had already spent a significant period of time in Australia serving as information secretary from 1990 to 1994. We hoped that this familiarity would see the continuation of generally warm relations with the Indonesian government that would allow us to reap the benefits of a foreign minister who would embrace working with Australia, another Indonesian whom we assumed would want to work with Australia as a starting point, rather than taking a more Realpolitik view of the relationship. We thought that there would be a natural continuation of pro-Australian politicians in Indonesia regardless of the departure of our country's great friend, President Yudhoyono. However, it soon emerged that Minister Marsudi's time in Australia was not as enjoyable as we would have liked. In 1991, her car was vandalised during protests. She is also old enough to remember the Indonesian flag, highly regarded by Indonesians, being burned on Australian streets. We are lucky that despite some of Minister Marsudi's experiences in Australia, she sees Australia as a friend and a partner. We did our best to dissuade her 20 years ago. Thankfully, times have changed in Australia and we would not expect similar things to occur today, but in the future we cannot just rely on luck to go our way in the international arena.

If we are to reap the benefits of the Asian century, Australians have to engage differently with our regional neighbours than we have in the past. As the epicentre of world economic growth is moving further east towards the Indo-Pacific, our region is growing at an unprecedented rate. We all know that the rise of China has been a huge benefit to Australia, but the rise of the Indo-Pacific expands much further than just one country. In 2050 our region will be home to 10 of the world's 25 biggest economies. In a few short decades Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia will become some of the biggest economies in the world. To make the most of this incredible opportunity we must be open to our region, engage with our region, communicate with our region and participate with our region.

Michael Wesley, a former director of the Lowy Institute, once said:

… no longer can Australians leave international affairs to the diplomats.

While government-to-government diplomacy will always have its place—and Michael Wesley is right—engagement in our region must be more than just diplomats socialising at cocktail events. One of the major aspects of this new engagement must be a focus on person-to-person contacts for a ramping up of exchange, and particularly educational exchange. We should send young Australians abroad to study to learn about our region, and welcome students from abroad to learn and study in Australia. Hundreds of leaders of our region have passed through Australia's university system. Not only do we need that to continue, but we must expand these opportunities. Offering scholarships to students in our region not only brings the best minds to Australia, it creates an environment for those personal relationships and common bonds to flourish, much to the national advantage. The Colombo Plan has enabled cultural and educational exchange in our region for decades, something that Australia and the region has benefited from immensely. Australians also need similar experiences. We should be encouraging all university students to go on exchange or do an internship abroad.

These kinds of experiences enable us to better understand other cultures, as well as to learn how other countries do business and practice politics. We should be getting as many young people as possible to experience life overseas and to see the countries in our region as more than just resorts and beaches. The Erasmus Program, in Europe, saw 270,000 students travel to another city in the Euro region in 2012-13 alone. If we are serious about engaging and integrating into our region, Australia needs a program of a similar size. The program should be open not just to international relations and development students, or foreign affairs students, but to our business, law, science and medicine students as well.

Australia already hosts a range of valuable youth dialogues such as the Australia-India Youth Dialogue and the Australia-China Youth Dialogue, and we should encourage and foster new regional connections through these forums. We should in particular encourage the formation of alumni networks from these youth dialogues and international study programs. Through these initiatives we can strengthen and broaden our connections in the region. Leveraging language, personal relationships and cultural capabilities will provide the basis for deep, long-term engagement in the region. Indeed, it is not just language alone that we need to develop proficiency in in our nation. Cultural proficiency of our region is equally important for developing these long-term personal connections and relationships that you rely on in order to advance Australia's interests in the Asian century. This level of engagement will return social, economic and political benefits to Australia and the broader region, and will enable Australia to take full advantage of the possibilities of the Asian century for many centuries to come.

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