Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

Again, thank you to Senator Smith for his question.

We are working very hard between us to grow the understanding between our people and our communities. More than 1.3 million Australians visit Indonesia every year, a record number, and a growing number of Indonesian tourists are coming to Australia. But our education links are particularly strong. Australia hosts around 20,000 Indonesian students annually, and we are very pleased to provide Australia Award scholarships to talented young Indonesians to study in Australia.

Australia remains the top destination for Indonesian students studying abroad, and Indonesia, in turn, is also by far the most popular overseas destination for our New Colombo Plan Program. In fact, since 2014 over 9,500 young Australians have studied, lived and experienced life in Indonesia. They are most certainly voting with their feet. This is perfectly demonstrated by Monash University's announcement today that it will open a new campus in Indonesia in the coming year.