George Christensen (Dawson, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I too rise to congratulate the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, ASEAN, on its 50th anniversary. I commend the member for Bruce for bringing this motion to the House, through the Federation Chamber, and I commend all those members who have spoken on this significant motion reflecting a very significant milestone for this organisation.

Obviously, the ASEAN nations are our neighbours. It is important that the relationship between Australia and the ASEAN nations be good. The good news is that the relationship between us has perhaps never been in better shape. We are close partners in tackling regional challenges, and that is principally due to two things: our geographical place in being seen as a diplomatic centre for the region and the fact that we are the longest official observer nation to ASEAN. It has to be remembered that ASEAN was established by the five original member nations: Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines and, I believe, Indonesia. Together they formed ASEAN as a bulwark against the spread of communism. People deride it now, but the domino effect, as it was called, was very much a reality.

The precursor to ASEAN being established was the SEATO, the South-East Asian Treaty Organisation. That was a security pact that Australia was very much involved in, along with the USA, the UK and, notably, Thailand and the Philippines. In fact, that treaty was signed in Manila. This new treaty was where five foundational members—non-communist countries—decided to come together and sign the treaty in 1967 in Bangkok. It was a different kind of security they were looking for, because they saw this domino effect: what happened in Cambodia, what happened in Laos, what happened in Vietnam and what threatened to happen in Indonesia. The threat of communism, therefore, was real. What they needed to do was meet that challenge of communism and do that through free enterprise, through the economy and through lifting people up in their nations.

There have been some great success stories out of that. Look at Singapore: under the leadership of Lee Kwan Yew that country went from a third world country to one of the most prosperous counties on planet earth. Look at Malaysia and what has been developed there in Kuala Lumpur today. Look too at the progress that has happened in countries like Thailand and the Philippines in recent times. These countries are very much emerging from a developing status and quickly going to first-world status, and many parts of those countries are already there.

It is very important we recognise what these nations, collectively, have achieved. Other nations that have come into the fold, including Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Brunei round out what is ASEAN today. Again, all of those countries, even the ones which purport to have a socialist or communist basis for government, are pursuing free market principles that have led to their countries rising in prosperity. We have enabled that as well, with the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area and the bilateral agreements that we've had with our ASEAN partners, including Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia, and negotiations currently under way with Indonesia. It prospers our country; it prospers their countries. We also look to assist their countries in other security areas: anti-trafficking, safe labour migration, human security issues. It is in our interest to ensure that ASEAN nations prosper. We congratulate them on this 50th anniversary.

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