Julian Hill (Bruce, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes that 8 August 2017 is the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which has grown from its initial five members to a key regional association comprising ten of Australia’s neighbours and partners;

(2) congratulates ASEAN on five decades of patient and effective work promoting regional peace and stability while advancing economic growth, social progress and cultural development;

(3) notes that:

(a) considered collectively, ASEAN countries are Australia’s third largest trading partner, with current two-way trade surpassing $100 billion annually since 2014;

(b) more than 65 per cent of ASEAN’s population is under 35 years old, presenting a growth opportunity across the region; and

(c) Australia’s regional aid programs focusing on economic growth and human security help ensure our commitments to ASEAN countries in support of economic integration are met;

(4) welcomes the:

(a) strong partnership between Australia and ASEAN, established and deepened over 43 years; and

(b) advancement of Australia’s status as a dialogue partner and the appointment of an Australian ambassador to ASEAN;

(5) encourages the Government to place the highest priority on the 2018 ASEAN-Australia Special Summit; and

(6) calls on the Government to make the most of the opportunity presented by the 2018 ASEAN-Australia Special Summit to reaffirm and strengthen Australia’s strategic partnership with ASEAN, and to identify practical actions whereby Australia can deepen its collaboration in support of ASEAN’s future success.

On 8 August 1967, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations was founded. Originally with just five members from Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand, it has now grown to 10 members, including Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam. As the most important multilateral institution in South-East Asia, it's appropriate that this House congratulates ASEAN on five decades of patient and effective work, promoting regional peace while advancing economic growth and social progress.

In 1967, South-East Asia was very different. There was mutual suspicion amongst states, enormous violence in Indochina and great power confrontation. South-East Asia today has been free of interstate conflict for decades.

A division having been called in the House of Repres en tatives—

Sitting suspended from 17:46 to 18:06

South-East Asia today has been free of interstate conflict for decades and is among the fastest growing regions in the world. Collectively, ASEAN would be the sixth-largest nation and Australia's third-largest trading partner. In congratulating our friends and neighbours on stunning progress, including hundreds of millions of people being lifted out of poverty, these are not just pleasant words. Australia has a direct and profoundly important interest in the success of ASEAN and its member states. This is our neighbourhood. Stability, peace and prosperity matter enormously.

ASEAN, like any institution, has limitations. Some have criticised ASEAN and the ASEAN ways—norms of informality, consensus and non-conflict-based decision making—but there is wisdom in these methods to keep such diverse societies at the table. And ASEAN has proved to be an enduring institution, outlasting changes in governments, including momentous transitions. It's been said often that perhaps ASEAN's greatest achievement is what has not happened and what has been central in preventing conflict in South-East Asia between member states.

Last week, I attended a seminar reflecting on 50 years of ASEAN. It was said that at its core ASEAN is a trust machine, not necessarily a product machine. A colleague observed that, as with other multilateral institutions with diverse members, 'ASEAN wasn't designed for heaven, just to stop us going to hell'. That is true at its core, but the 'heaven' and 'hell' undersells ASEAN's import, achievements and potential.

Although I accept that the international environment is anarchic, humans have a capacity for violence, and real power matters. Indeed, it's fundamental. However, I also believe that significant aspects of relations between states and peoples result from historical and social constructs and that we can influence and shape this environment with ideas and dialogue and that institutions can have a positive effect. ASEAN has facilitated dialogue not only between member states but also their neighbours and the great powers through its sponsored fora. The resultant relationships and forums underpin ambitious economic initiatives such as the ASEAN economic community. ASEAN is also a forum to tackle mutual challenges, and other issues such as migration, environment, aviation, food security, communications and many others. Where consensus exists, ASEAN has bargained externally, even as one group—for example, in the 1970s airline dispute, where Australia was in the end forced to change our approach. I warmly congratulate ASEAN on 50 years of patient, effective work.

In closing, on Australia and ASEAN, I firmly believe that Australia must and will seek closer strategic alignment with our South-East Asian neighbours, bilaterally and via ASEAN. This alone will not guarantee our security, but it makes enormous, long-term, strategic sense for us all to deepen our cooperation, given our shared interests and the growing great-power uncertainty. Having listened for years to the debate about Australia in Asia, a lot of it seems, frankly, weird. This is where we are. It isn't as if one day we will wake up and suddenly be somewhere else, as though someone might tow us over to the Atlantic overnight. These are our neighbours. Geography is not destiny, but it is reality, so let's get with it.

In March 2018 the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit will be held in Sydney, and it must be more than just symbolic. There's been a criticism made over many years, including by our neighbours in quiet conversations, that Australia says fine words but that our real substantive interest in ASEAN and South-East Asia waxes and wanes. They say that despite these nice words we are at times hot and cold, sometimes here but sometimes elsewhere. In particular there is a criticism that we haven't put the diplomatic resources in a consistent way necessary to really deepen our engagement through all the various forums. So, to really take advantage of this summit, Australia must be prepared to commit to substantive, practical steps which provide greater support to collective ASEAN priorities. Our mutual understanding, relationships and trust must deepen and develop to the point where, perhaps, one day Australia would be a logical and natural candidate for membership of ASEAN without this being a big deal or a big fuss. One day I hope such a step would not seem strange to our people or to our neighbours.

In this motion I congratulate, both personally and on behalf of the parliament, ASEAN for 50 years of patient and effective work.

Andrew Hastie (Canning, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the motion seconded?

Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.

Ann Sudmalis (Gilmore, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I, too, wish to congratulate the Association of Southeast Asian Nations on its 50th anniversary—50 years of evolution and progress. The Governor-General celebrated and hosted an event on 8 August in recognition of this auspicious occasion, which was attended by my friend and colleague foreign minister the Hon. Julie Bishop.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, was established 50 years ago in Bangkok, Thailand, with the signing of the ASEAN declaration by the founding fathers of ASEAN, namely Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Now, ASEAN consists of 10 countries, including Brunei, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar. ASEAN has made significant contributions to delivering peace, security and cohesion in our region since its inception half a century ago. ASEAN fundamental principles include mutual respect for the independent sovereignty, equality, territorial integrity and national identity of all nations, renunciation of the threat or use of force and effective cooperation among themselves.

Myanmar has seen an evolutionary cultural shift where ASEAN principles are evident, helping to change the political landscape and replacing what was once chaotic civil unrest with energy, hope and possibilities for the future. Australia, I know, works particularly hard with all the ASEAN nations, but with the rebirth of democracy in Myanmar, additional financial assistance and nurture of development initiatives will be significantly enhanced. Extra education funding is aimed towards an educational shift. It is a difficult but essential task.

The International Women's Development Agency has pioneered a mentoring project. Just last week, six female Myanmar MPs came to our parliament. They were very impressed with the way children's democracy education took place in the House. They were inspired to take that idea home—amongst many other things—to help grow democracy in Myanmar. The model of close political mentoring and support is one that may, perhaps, be adopted by other nations within ASEAN parliaments.

I particularly thank the Akhaya Women from Myanmar, especially Htar Htar, as she has been the catalyst for this exercise in the empowerment of women. Jen Clark and Leonie Morgan from IWDA have also played a special part. I would like to thank the six MPs from Myanmar: Daw Khin Swe Lwin, Naw Chris Htun, Lway Nan Moe, Daw Nan Htwe, Nang Khin Saw and Daw Khin Saw Wai. They have come to a very strange land to learn, apply and grow their own democracy and political advocacy. This is all part of our participation in the ASEAN relationship.

The ASEAN alliance is important to Australia's strategic and economic interests due to its position at the geographical and diplomatic centre of our region. We are close partners dedicated to tackling regional challenges. Our 43-year standing relationship is robust and continues to strengthen. In 2014, Australia became a strategic partner, placing us at the top level of partnerships. There are biennial ASEAN-Australian leaders' summits. Australia strongly supports the East Asia Summit and actively engages in the ASEAN Regional Forum in the ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting Plus.

The Prime Minister will host the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit, planned for March next year, attended by all the leaders in the region in recognition of the political-level strengthening of our relationship with all member countries. This provides an unprecedented opportunity to advance our mutual security, economic interests and set frameworks of cooperation for the future. As we know, the economies of South-East Asia are the key drivers of global growth. With a five per cent annual increase across the region, there are undoubtedly prosperous times ahead.

Australia's $93 billion two-way trade with ASEAN has grown by over $25 billion in the last decade and now exceeds our trade with the United States and Japan. The ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area and bilateral free trade areas with ASEAN partners provide greater certainty for Australian service suppliers and investors, with extensive tariff reductions for Australian goods' exporters. We provide significant bilateral investments. Our ASEAN and Mekong regional program supports economic integration, free trade, sustainable water resource management and human security issues like antitrafficking and safe labour migration in addition to health sector aid, particularly the antimalaria initiatives. Our aid is a reflection of our deep interest in a prosperous and stable South-East Asia.

ASEAN countries and its peoples are part of the fabric of Australian society with nearly one million Australians claiming ASEAN ancestry and at least 700,000 Australians speaking an ASEAN language. In 2016, 15 per cent of all international visitors to Australia and nearly 18 per cent of all international students in Australia were from ASEAN countries. We must continue to engage, embrace and work with our neighbouring countries to ensure peace, security and prosperity.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure and Transport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to support the motion on ASEAN moved by the member for Bruce, and I congratulate him on this initiative. This year marks 50 years since the Association of Southeast Asian Nations was founded. Since its inception, ASEAN's membership has grown and today it includes Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. Australia's relationship with ASEAN dates back more than 40 years to 1974, when we became its very first dialogue partner—yet another groundbreaking, international initiative of the Whitlam government.

In the past 50 years, the world has seen a great deal of change in a number of areas—improved outcomes in health and education, a great many people lifted out of poverty, massive advancements in technology and changes to the pattern of human migration. Throughout these decades, ASEAN has promoted peace and stability in an extraordinarily large region, and it should be congratulated for this. The rewards of this effort can be seen in the region's economic growth. In the years from 2001 to 2014, ASEAN's combined GDP rose threefold to approximately $2.5 trillion. Today, ASEAN collectively is one of our largest trading partners and the importance of our strategic partnership with ASEAN cannot be understated.

It is a very simple fact that Australia must be engaged in this part of the world. To put it in context, ASEAN's combined population of more than 620 million is larger than the European Union or North America, and 65 per cent of this population is under 35 years old. What's more, ASEAN is home to a rising middle class, which has more and more money to spend and therefore contribute to the Australian national economy. This is particularly important, given the role that tourism plays. Tourism has been identified by Deloitte Access Economics as one of five supergrowth sectors. It supports more than one million jobs and generates nearly $100 billion in economic activity. The 2018 ASEAN-Australia Special Summit is the first of its kind and will provide an unprecedented opportunity to showcase our nation to the ASEAN members and dialogue partners. It is being held in Sydney.

As we continue to grow our relationship with ASEAN, it's clear tourism is one important beneficiary. Indeed, of Tourism Australia's 16 core markets, three of these—Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia—are part of ASEAN. We have been fortunate to see international visitors from these countries increasingly choose Australia as their tourist destination. For the year ending March 2017, the number of visitors to Australia from Singapore rose seven per cent, from Malaysia 11 per cent and from Indonesia 18 per cent—an excellent testimony to the relationship Australia has with the people of these nations.

We should also look to ASEAN for best practice when it comes to our shared challenges. The fact is there's much we can learn from each other. Urbanisation is one such example. I visited Singapore earlier this year to look at their urban policy. As a city state, Singapore is leading the world in many areas, and one of the areas is the rollout of high-speed broadband, where they actually used the Australian model as an example—except that they kept going with it and didn't abandon it for a third-rate copper network.

As the member for Grayndler, the fact is I'm very fortunate to represent an electorate that is a melting pot of multiculturalism. Our multiculturalism, language skills and relationship with the region can be a great source of not just social and cultural benefit but also benefit to our economy. More than 1.3 million Australian residents were either born in ASEAN countries or have South-East Asian ancestry. We all benefit from the fact that Australia is a dialogue partner with ASEAN. I look forward to seeing Australia deepen its collaboration in the coming years, and I congratulate ASEAN on this important celebration of 50 years.

Tim Wilson (Goldstein, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I begin my speech by refuting one of the comments that was made by the previous speaker. If he'd done any analysis of the size and concentration of the populations of Singapore and Australia, he would know how absurd it was to say that the delivery of a national broadband network or equivalent is not comparable between the two countries. I know it's a fantasy when you live in a world where money means nothing, it has no consequences, and you're prepared to spend other people's money to infinity, but it is not a practical or realistic way to do things.

Let's get past that. Let's talk about the issue at hand, which is to congratulate ASEAN on its 50th anniversary as an important part of regional stability and economic cooperation between some of the great countries in our South-East Asia region. I particularly congratulate its 10 members: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Burma-Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Every Australian has some affection with one or many of those countries because they have had the opportunity to be able to visit and enjoy the warm embrace that comes from those countries and their cultures.

When you look at the challenges that our region has faced since the creation of ASEAN, it has provided a regional framework of stability as well as economic opportunity for a country that seeks to grow economically like ours. But, being a passionate advocate for free trade, this is not a unilateral relationship. This is one built on the ideals of mutual prosperity and support, particularly in dealing with and tackling some of the great challenges we face as a region around promoting economic growth and opportunity to reduce levels of poverty across the region. That's in their interests and it's in ours.

By having a free and open economic community among South-East Asia nations, we help to contribute to that. We did that no better than by signing a free trade agreement in 2010 which has been the bedrock of our economic relationship since that time. The free trade agreement gives Australian exporters the opportunity to be able to export goods into the region at a desirable arrangement. But, equally, it makes sure that those economies integrate further into the Australian economy to the interests of everybody. Sometimes I'd like to see more opportunities in FTAs, like the embrace of service based liberalisation, but let's take the baseline where it is and say, 'That's fantastic,' and build on it and grow.

The consequences have been quite significant. Australia's two-way trade with ASEAN countries amounts to over $25 billion in the past decade and now exceeds our trade with the United States and Japan. When you think about the opportunity that has provided for Australian exporters in being able to leverage the potential to nearby neighbours who want to consume the best of what we as a country can produce, it should not be understated. The strength of the Australian economy has always been that we're able to produce more than we consume, but we need reliable trading partners to make sure that we can ingratiate ourselves and create opportunities, including export opportunities, for Australians so that people can enjoy the offerings of this great country.

Australia's relationship with ASEAN commenced in 1974. Our relationship is now in its 43rd year. In that time it has only grown deeper, particularly as a consequence of programs like the Colombo Plan, which enabled people from across ASEAN countries to come to Australia to learn, understand our systems of law practice and service based industries, and take that benefit, skill and knowledge of Australia back to their home country. We're enormously proud of its contribution to not just regional growth but our growth. Every opportunity that Australians have to embrace their region they take. One of the enduring legacies of the ASEAN relationship is built on a sense of mutual trust and understanding about the potential of growing together. What we celebrate on this 50th anniversary is the opportunity not just to congratulate ASEAN on its contribution to the region and to peace and stability amongst the countries that are members but also to celebrate the contribution that ASEAN makes to Australia. As a federal parliament, we make a commitment to continuing to support and contribute to their contribution to the growth of the region as well as to that of our great nation.

Josh Wilson (Fremantle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm very happy to speak on this motion. It recognises and celebrates a momentous achievement. ASEAN has been one of the most durable and effective regional groups in the world since it was formed in 1967. This month marks a half century in which its members have navigated a successful passage through a difficult and volatile period. I'm grateful to the member for Bruce for bringing this matter forward for debate and recognition. He has a genuine interest and some not inconsiderable experience in the matter of Australia's engagement in our region.

It's incredible to reflect on the changes that have occurred over the 50 years since the five original members—Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines—signed the Bangkok Declaration and ASEAN was formed. As Nick Bisley, the professor of international relations at La Trobe University has observed:

ASEAN's formation was a product of its times. The group of poor and mostly newly independent countries needed to develop a much more positive approach to one another. Their immediate past had entailed cross-border contests, rivalry and insurgencies …

That context points to and highlights perhaps ASEAN's greatest achievement, namely the contribution it has made to the avoidance of regional conflict and the maintenance of national integrity and stability through a period of great change and considerable geopolitical pressure. This relative stability has, in turn, enabled some remarkable development outcomes. In 1967, for example, Singapore had a per capita GDP of $600. Now it is approximately $53,000, a higher level than we enjoy here in Australia. In 1967, Indonesia, the largest nation in ASEAN and the fifth most populous nation on earth, had a per capita GDP of only $56. Today, it is $3,600, Indonesia is the 16th-largest economy in the world and, by some estimates, it will be the fourth-largest by 2050.

The ASEAN nations account for nine per cent of the world's population and, by 2020, its economic scale will make it the fifth-largest economy in the world. As the motion states, ASEAN nations, taken together, already amount to our third-largest trading partner. As the economic and geopolitical realities of the 21st century—the Asian century—unfold, it is helpful to regard ASEAN as occupying, within the Asia-Pacific, a kind of bolstering and balancing middle ground between the emerging great powers of India and China.

Australia's relationship with ASEAN has always been of enormous significance, and that significance will continue to grow. We were the first country to be an official dialogue partner of ASEAN, a status now held by nine other countries. As such, we were able to benefit from participating in the ASEAN Regional Forum. We have, quite rightly, championed the significance of the East Asia Summit. Next year, Australia will have the honour and privilege of hosting the first ASEAN-Australia Special Summit, which will provide the opportunity to further consider how we will continue to support and interact with this regional group and how we will continue to develop our own identity as an Asia-Pacific nation.

On that issue, I was glad of the chance to participate in a roundtable discussion at the ANU in June with Professor Michael Wesley and others—and, again, I thank the prompting and good organisational work of the member for Bruce. Inevitably, part of the conversation turned on the question of Australia's place in our part in the world and the ways in which we relate to and interact with ASEAN nations. Rather than returning time and again to the perennial chestnut of whether Australia should or could ever be a member of ASEAN, there seemed to be some consensus that we should instead look to developing and strengthening our economic, cultural and diplomatic links in a way that would, in time, make our closer or even direct involvement with ASEAN seem like a natural step.

It is likely that ASEAN will be as important for its member nations and for its regional neighbours, including Australia, in the next 50 years as it has been in the half century just passed. But fulfilling that role will not be a matter of business as usual. There are new risks and opportunities before us. As Professor Bisley has written:

As great power rivalry returns, a divided ASEAN is finding its ability either to shape that rivalry or to carve out space for its members increasingly difficult. To do this it will need to have a much higher level of leadership than in the past to navigate a very difficult international environment. It will also need to be a great deal more adaptable and flexible than it has been in the past.

Unless it can deliver on shaping great power politics and playing a leadership role in the region, ASEAN will become less important both to its members and to Asia. This is an outcome that would make everyone in southeast Asia worse off.

I thank the member for Bruce for bringing this motion and all members who have taken part in the debate, which has been characterised by the respect we have for ASEAN and the value we place on its work to enable regional peace and cooperation.

George Christensen (Dawson, National Party) Share this | Link to 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.

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

I too thank the member for Bruce for moving this very worthy motion. The 50th anniversary of the Bangkok Declaration and the establishment of ASEAN is truly an event that deserves the recognition of the Australian parliament. ASEAN has been one of the world's most successful multilateral organisations over this period. Tasked with promoting regional peace and stability between the nations of South-East Asia, the results speak for themselves. In one of the most religiously diverse regions in the world, which is home to millions of Muslims, Christians, Buddhists and Hindus living side by side, confronting legacies of conflicts from colonialism to the fallout of the Second World War and as a scene for geostrategic jostling by great powers, South-East Asia has faced significant challenges over the last 50 years. Yet, through it all, ASEAN has been extraordinarily successful at delivering peace and stability throughout the region.

This stability has enabled extraordinary economic growth in a region that today has a collective population of around 620 million people and a GDP of around US$2.5 trillion—a region that, when considered collectively, justifies being contemplated on the same plane as China and India as a sphere of influence in the Indo-Pacific. Indeed ASEAN is a regional grouping that should have a far larger place in the Australian political imagination. ASEAN is central to Australia's economic, strategic and foreign policy aspirations. Considered collectively, ASEAN is Australia's second or third largest trading partner, with current two-way trade surpassing $100 billion annually since 2014, which is more than our trade with Japan, the EU or the US.

Moreover, as a collection of smaller nations in a region of rapidly changing geostrategic interests, we have many strategic and foreign policy interests in common. Like the member states of ASEAN, as a mid-sized trading nation, Australia has a strong interest in the maintenance of a rules based international system. As a neighbour in South-East Asia, Australia has a shared interest in the maintenance of a multilateral, rules based approach to issues in our own backyard, which are as varied as maritime cooperation, public health, human trafficking, transnational crime and terrorism. To this end, Australia would do well to work harder to buttress the work of ASEAN in these areas and, in enmeshing our own international efforts with those of our ASEAN nations, consult and cooperate with our partners in ASEAN.

As other speakers have discussed in this debate, aspiring to membership of ASEAN has been advocated by some in Australia, including former Prime Minister Paul Keating. Even absent this explicit ambition, my view is that engagement with ASEAN and ASEAN nations ought to be the highest priority of Australian foreign policy. Not only does Australia share many common interests with our ASEAN neighbours; we're also more likely to be able to shape the views and actions of great nations outside South-East Asia, if we are seen as an effective and expert partner within our own region. While it is true that Australia was ASEAN's first dialogue partner and that we have since established an ASEAN-Australia Strategic Partnership, all too often we have failed to sufficiently focus our efforts and resources in a way that we need to in order to be an effective and expert partner to our neighbours in South-East Asia.

Despite decades of discussion about the important of ASEAN, we still do not show enough interest as a nation in learning about our region. While over 123,000 South-East Asians are currently studying in Australia, the number of Australians studying in South-East Asia is a tiny fraction of this number. Depressingly, it is well-chronicled that the number of Australians studying South-East Asian languages like Bahasa Indonesia, Tagalog and Vietnamese is vanishingly small and shrinking by the year. So, too, are we failing to invest in the next generation of academic experts in the culture, history and politics of South-East Asia that we need to inform our engagement in the region.

Other nations outside ASEAN with similar interests to Australia, like South Korea, are making a much better fist of doing what is necessary to marshal national resources towards engaging with ASEAN. Given this, this motion's call to encourage the government to place the highest priority on the 2018 ASEAN-Australia Special Summit, to reaffirm and strengthen Australia's strategic partnership with ASEAN and to identify practical actions for Australia to deepen its collaboration in support of ASEAN's future success is crucial.

Australia's geo-strategic environment and our place in the global economy are changing rapidly. The great Australian complacency that we have all too often fallen into in the past will not suffice in the more challenging international context that confronts us in the future. To this end, we could all learn a thing or two from the success that ASEAN has had in shaping the international environment of its nation states over the past 50 years. It's a lesson to the rest of the world in what determined, sustained and creative foreign policy can achieve over the long term.

Gai Brodtmann (Canberra, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to congratulate the member for Bruce for putting forward this motion. About two months ago, I had the great pleasure of spending a morning with the member for Bruce, as well as the member for Bass, who's just joined us. We had an interesting conversation at the Australian National University—that great national institution here in Canberra—on this very issue of the future of ASEAN: where do we go from here, what role will ASEAN play in the future and what is the relationship between Australia and ASEAN? We have had this connection for a long time, but what is the future of that relationship for the next 50 years?

I want to use this opportunity to again thank Professor Michael Wesley as well as Professor John Blaxland, who facilitated the workshop. The workshop was useful because we had a number of brains around the room with different expertise and experience in the various ASEAN countries over many years and in a range of different spheres: economic, political, social and cultural. It was a really worthwhile conversation, and I commend the member for Bruce for organising it. Given we are today honouring the 50th anniversary of ASEAN and its achievements, something that was born of peace and cooperation at a particularly tense time in the region, now, 50 years on, what do we want to achieve with ASEAN? As I said, what role will it play in the region? What role will Australia play in its interconnection with ASEAN? What future do we see for this multilateral body?

I am very keen for us to have a stronger and deeper engagement with ASEAN and for ASEAN, within itself, to have a stronger and deeper engagement. But I ask, when we are having this conversation, that we are truly committed to deepening and strengthening our relationship with ASEAN. As someone who used to be a diplomat in foreign affairs, in a life before this one—I had my small business before and prior to that I was in the foreign service—I saw so many activities where we were engaged in deepening the relationship with Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand. Remember the tiger economies of the mid-to-late nineties, up until the crash? Indonesia was the future for Australia. There was a huge amount of investment and economic and cultural activity. There were trade missions and ministerial visits and such a flurry of activity, and then it was gone. There's this waxing and waning of interest in ASEAN, as there is for the subcontinent, particularly India.

In calling for a deeper and stronger relationship with those countries in ASEAN—Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam—we need to acknowledge the differences there, the different dynamics and the different stages of development amongst those countries, but also, if we are to deepen the relationship, please, let's make it sustained. As someone who's been in this space for more than 20 years, I have seen this flurry of activity and excitement—we'll deepen the relationship with Indonesia, India, Singapore, Vietnam and Thailand. Missions go over, economic and banking agreements are signed, social and cultural organisations go over, one or two years pass, and then there's nothing. I ask that, for the next 50 years of our relationship with ASEAN, we be deeply committed to a stronger and deeper engagement at every level, that we sustain that commitment to a stronger and deeper engagement at every level—that we don't just say, 'This is a good thing,' on the 50th anniversary, and then forget about it in a few days time—and that we actually commit to this.

As so many of my colleagues have said, this region is significant in so many ways: population, culture, development opportunities. It's the world's sixth largest economic region and one of our great and key trading partners. There is so much opportunity in this region. I imagine that most of the people here have been to parts—if not all—of it, and there are so many opportunities for not only Australia but also each country in ASEAN. All I ask is that we commit to stronger and deeper engagement and collaboration with those countries and, when we make that commitment, that we sustain that commitment—that we don't see the waxing and waning of the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s—and that it's deep, meaningful, strong and sustained.

Madeleine King (Brand, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I also thank the member for Bruce for introducing this motion today, and I'm very pleased to speak on the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, ASEAN, which was established in 1967 in Bangkok. The founding nations of Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand together made the ASEAN declaration 50 years ago. Since that time, more nations of the region have joined ASEAN: Brunei Darussalam in 1984, Vietnam in 1995, Laos—or Myanmar—in 1997 and Cambodia in 1999. It says something about this regional grouping of nations that has expanded in this manner over its development and is now made up of the ASEAN 10 nations.

The ASEAN Declaration of 1967 is an eloquent statement of the aims of the association that have at their heart the important statecraft of cooperation, collaboration and mutual assistance—a means of working together patiently and respectfully of each nation's sovereignty to achieve economic, social, educational and cultural development and regional peace and stability and therefore prosperity. In essence, these nations promised to help and support each other for their mutual benefit and the prosperity of their people.

When these steps were first taken 50 years ago, many doubted that ASEAN would last, and few thought it might've been driving international discussions on the progress and development of South-East Asia 50 years later. We should remember the circumstances in which ASEAN was born. Two years earlier, Singapore and Malaysia had split into separate nations. Indonesia was recovering from the deep unrest and violence that triggered the fall of Sukarno. Konfrontasi had come to an end after much pain and, indeed, the peace treaty brought about its end to pave the way for the creation of ASEAN.

During its 50 years, ASEAN has sought out the participation of and discussion with other Asia-Pacific states. Its consultative approach has seen ASEAN Plus Three to include China, Japan and South Korea, which then developed into ASEAN Plus Six to include India, New Zealand and Australia.

ASEAN, as you know, is very important to Western Australia. We have the desert at our back, the vast Indian Ocean before us and—as is widely claimed—the most isolated capital city in the world, Perth, but in fact we're the most connected Australian capital city. More than 60 per cent of the world's population lives directly to our north, in arguably the most dynamic region on earth, and 65 per cent of the ASEAN population is under 30 and drives—and will continue to drive—this dynamism. So, far from being isolated, Perth is in fact the gateway to ASEAN and the Indo-Pacific. This is no secret in WA, with businesses actively building relationships throughout the region and with ASEAN nations for many decades. They are relationships that create opportunities in trade and opportunities for closer engagement with our regional neighbours.

Our new Labor state government is helping drive these relationships by developing an Asian engagement strategy and appointing the first Western Australian Minister for Asian Engagement, the Hon. Bill Johnston. Closer to Perth than Canberra, civil society throughout the region discuss—as we do here—how Australia, Indonesia and all ASEAN nations might work together in policy development so that, together, we can meet the challenges of the region: nutrition, infrastructure, education, security, energy security, pollution and the effects of climate change. Our common concerns and common goals bring us together, and ASEAN can take credit for much of this cooperation.

Before I came here I established and was the chief operating officer of the Perth USAsia Centre, a think tank dedicated to strengthening relationships and strategic thinking between Australia, the Indo-Pacific and the USA. Of course ASEAN is very much a part of that. It is a very important part of strengthening the relationships and thinking on geopolitical issues that affect the region.

I was fortunate in September 2015 to help host a visit by the sixth President of Indonesia, Professor Dr Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, to Perth to speak at the In the Zone conference. When asked how Indonesia and Australia could best work together in the region, Dr Yudhoyono said that he believed that our best means and avenue of cooperation is to work enthusiastically together to strengthen Australia's engagement with ASEAN and ASEAN nations in policy development, education and culture exchange across government, academia and civil society. And this we will see in the 2018 ASEAN-Australia Special Summit in Sydney.

I urge the government to recognise the Perth USAsia Centre's good work. It was originally funded by the Labor Gillard government and has had bipartisan support since its inception. I know its funding is soon to expire, and it is on the desks of ministers in this government. I urge the government to prioritise this in their in-trays and make sure they consider refunding the Perth USAsia Centre so that it might continue to strengthen relationships and strategic thinking across ASEAN and the Indo-Pacific.

Andrew Hastie (Canning, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The time allotted for this debate has expired. The debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.