Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) acknowledges the importance of Australia's bilateral relationship with Indonesia;

(2) notes that:

(a) two-way investment between Australia and Indonesia was valued at $10.4 billion in 2016;

(b) 16,200 Indonesian tourists visited Australia and 1.248 million Australians visited Indonesia in 2016, making Indonesia Australia's second most popular holiday destination;

(c) cultural engagement programs like those fostered by the Australia-Indonesia Institute, the Australia-Indonesia Centre and CAUSINDY: the Conference of Australian and Indonesian Youth, are paramount to continuing to develop strong people-to-people links;

(d) Darwin has a key role to play in Australia's relationship with Indonesia through:

(i) educational opportunities such as Charles Darwin University's exchange programs, research groups, and international student places;

(ii) assisting Indonesia in building their emergency and disaster management capacity;

(iii) quick-response health resources like the National Critical Care and Trauma Response Centre; and

(iv) further strengthening trade capabilities and opportunities in the cattle industry, with Indonesia taking approximately 60 per cent of Australia's overall live cattle exports and more than a third of Australia's live cattle exports currently shipped through the Port of Darwin; and

(e) there are many areas in which cooperation between Indonesia and Australia could be strengthened for mutual benefit, including:

(i) countering transnational crime through cyber-security capacity building;

(ii) improving Defence capabilities and humanitarian aid/disaster relief assistance;

(iii) sharing the expertise of NT health professionals through clinical training and trainee/specialist exchange programs;

(iv) partnering on tourism initiatives like Indonesia's Beyond Bali campaign to provide opportunities to regional areas such as Eastern Indonesia; and

(v) expanding trilateral cooperation with Timor-Leste to improve humanitarian aid/disaster relief and strengthen maritime security, with opportunity for inclusion of other nations;

(3) encourages Members to reflect on recent occasions when the strength of the Australia-Indonesia relationship has been strained by decisions that, with the benefit of hindsight, didn't adequately balance all aspects of the relationship between our nations; and

(4) calls on Members to ensure our words and actions at all times demonstrate our deep, enduring respect for Indonesia and the value we place in maintaining a positive relationship.

The importance of Australia's bilateral relationship with Indonesia cannot be overstated, but before I speak to my motion today, I want to offer my condolences to the Indonesian people for the pain and loss of innocent life inflicted upon them during the recent terrorist attacks across Indonesia, primarily in Surabaya but also in other places. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Indonesian people and particularly with the authorities that were targeted by these attacks.

I wrote this private member's motion before those attacks. I want to say that, in addition to our thoughts and prayers, Australia is committed to working with Indonesia to address the threat of terrorism in our region and to improve coordination between all of our regional partners. The Indonesian people value diversity and tolerance. Diversity and tolerance are core to Indonesia's psyche and also the nation's stability, success and prosperity. We all know that terrorists seek to destroy these values through cowardly and inhumane attacks, and that's why we must be resolute. A stable, prosperous Indonesia is undeniably in Australia's national interests now and into the future.

In the time I have remaining, I want to address the human elements of my motion that go to the importance of fostering people-to-people links through cultural and educational exchanges and the central role that my electorate has—that is, Darwin and Palmerston—in developing Australia's relationship with Indonesia. There are cultural engagement programs, like those fostered by the Australia-Indonesia Institute; the Australia-Indonesia Centre; CAUSINDY, the Conference of Australian and Indonesian Youth; and also the Northern Centre for Contemporary Art in my electorate. These organisations are paramount for continuing to develop strong people-to-people links.

When we talk about regional cooperation, it was just this Friday past that we had a trilateral fashion show. There were Indonesian fashion designers, designers from Timor-Leste and designers from Darwin. We also have educational opportunities, such as Charles Darwin University's exchange programs, and research groups such as those at the Menzies School of Health Research. We have international student placements, which are critically important because they foster mutual understanding and respect through dialogues and exchanges of ideas and perspectives.

I'm very grateful to have the opportunity to speak about the importance of our relationship with Indonesia, and the live cattle trade is just one very important area of that cooperation. I spoke about this trade when I led an Australian Labor Party international delegation to Jakarta recently. We met with major political parties and leaders, including former President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, former Minister for Foreign Affairs Marty Natalegawa and members of all of Indonesia's major political parties. We discussed ways that we can work better together to realise opportunities but also address the challenges facing our nation. Australia's respect for Indonesia and our commitment to strengthening the relationship were central messages that we conveyed.

In tabling this motion today, the overarching objective is simple: I want all of us in this House to ensure that our thoughts, our words and our actions at all times demonstrate our deep and enduring respect for Indonesia and the value we place on maintaining a positive relationship with Indonesia. In the time I have remaining, I just want to mention that we are working with Indonesia on countering transnational crime and enhancing security capacity. We're working together in defence cooperation and also disaster and humanitarian aid cooperation. Our NT health professionals are working very closely with health professionals in Indonesia. It is a deep and abiding relationship, and one that we must be respectful of at all times.

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