Anthony Albanese heads to Hanoi as Vietnam pushes to supply more workers to Australia

Anthony Albanese will move to strengthen ties with Vietnam on a trip to Hanoi, where he will be urged to open Australia’s doors to tens of thousands of Vietnamese workers.

Vietnam's President Vo Van Thuong stands as he attends the National Assembly's summer session opening in Hanoi on May 22, 2023. (Photo by Nhac NGUYEN / AFP)

Anthony Albanese will move to strengthen ties with Vietnam on a trip to Hanoi this weekend, where he will be urged by the country’s leaders to open Australia’s doors to tens of thousands of Vietnamese workers.

The Prime Minister will visit Vietnam after attending the region’s premier security conference, the Shangri La Dialogue, in Singapore on Friday, where he will also meet with Singaporean counterpart Lee Hsien Loong.

The Albanese government is increasingly focusing on South East Asia, preparing a new strategy to engage with the region over the next two decades.

Vietnam’s Ambassador to Australia Nguyen Tat Thanh said new areas of bilateral co-operation would be agreed during the trip, including partnerships on digital transformation and climate change mitigation, and an agreement to tackle money-laundering.

New flights between the nations will be formally announced; one between Melbourne and Hanoi, and a second between Brisbane and Ho Chi Minh City.

Mr Albanese said he would discuss the Australia-Singapore green economy agreement with Mr Lee, while his trip to Vietnam would mark 50 years of diplomatic ties between the countries. It will be his first trip as Prime Minister to both nations.

Mr Nguyen said Mr Albanese’s visit to Hanoi would be a stepping stone to a “comprehensive strategic partnership” between Australia and Vietnam, which is expected to be finalised in coming months. He suggested Mr Albanese could be treated to Vietnam’s famous banh mi sandwiches and bia hoi (draught beer, which were often produced using Australian wheat and barley.

Mr Nguyen said Vietnam wanted to supply workers to fill job vacancies in Australia, and he had recently returned from Brisbane where he hoped Vietnamese tradespeople could support the 2032 Olympics preparations.

“They’ve got to get workers from somewhere. Vietnamese construction workers are really good. We are known for our hard work, dedication, and for our discipline, which I believe businesses need,” he said.

He pointed to the 470,000 Vietnamese currently working in Japan in fields such as health, aged care, and child care, saying the country could fill similar vacancies in Australia.

The former Morrison government last year signed a memorandum of understanding with Vietnam to allow the country’s workers to participate in Australia’s agricultural visa program - the only such agreement with an ASEAN country.

Mr Nguyen said Vietnam hoped the agreement would be put into operation from July this year, but warned the negotiated quota of 1000 workers was far too low.

He said it was hoped the trip would raise awareness among Australian businesses of opportunities in the Vietnamese market, as the country worked to ramp up foreign investment.

Mr Nguyen said Vietnam - a home to 100m people - offered huge opportunities for investors, particularly as a location for manufacturing plants, but Australian businesses had so far been reluctant to put money in the country.

Former Australian ambassador to Vietnam John McCarthy told The Australian the visit was an important one, saying the country was one of the region’s most strategically important.

“They’re very, very cautious, but at the same time, they welcome Western input, particularly into their economy,” he said.

“And, above all, they see the United States as a welcome balance against China in the region.”