Our security depends on Southeast Asia, says Anthony Albanese
Australia’s future security depends on the nation’s ability to strengthen economic ties with Southeast Asia, Anthony Albanese has declared.
Australia’s future security depends on the nation’s ability to strengthen economic ties with Southeast Asia, Anthony Albanese has declared, revealing the author of the government’s regional economic blueprint briefed cabinet’s national security committee on his findings.
Releasing the strategy in Jakarta on Wednesday, the Prime Minister immediately committed to three of Southeast Asia envoy Nicholas Moore’s recommendations, including an initiative to send “deal teams” into the region.
Key recommendations will have to wait, including Mr Moore’s call for streamlined visa arrangements for Southeast Asian businesspeople, and a proposed “political risk insurance” scheme to require taxpayers to underwrite risky business ventures.
Mr Albanese, who is attending the ASEAN and East Asia summits in the Indonesian capital, said the Southeast Asia Economic Strategy to 2040 represented “the most significant upgrade of Australia’s economic engagement with ASEAN for a generation”.
“The strategy we outline today reflects an enduring truth: this is where Australia’s economic destiny lies. And this is where our shared prosperity can be built.”
Mr Albanese said there was an “obvious” and “complete link” between the nation’s economic ties with the region and its future security, which was “the context in which this report is being handed down and considered by the government”.
“And that‘s why this report has been considered not just by the cabinet, but also by the national security committee of cabinet,” Mr Albanese said.
“We don’t have many guest speakers at the NSC but we thought that was important.”
Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the national security backdrop to the report was important at a time of heightened geostrategic context.
“This region is central to our security so that is why, as the Prime Minister has said, deepening engagement with Southeast Asia is such a priority for our government,” she said.
Their comments reflect the government’s assessment that the nation’s economic relationships will be as important as its military power and alliances in deterring potential aggressors such as China. The focus on Southeast Asia is also a risk-mitigation strategy against the possibility of future trade difficulties with China and the prospect that India may not live up to its economic potential.
Mr Moore, a former Macquarie Bank boss, pitches the fast-growing region as “a major opportunity for Australian business” that will drive global economic growth to 2040 and beyond.
The ASEAN economies are forecast to grow by 4 per cent a year to 2040, when as a bloc the region will be the world’s fourth biggest economy after the US, China and India.
Mr Albanese said the government would work through the report’s 75 recommendations “in an orderly way”, with yearly progress updates by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Treasury. “This is a strategy for 2040, not a strategy for September or October,” he said.
One of the biggest gripes Mr Moore heard during his consultations in the region was over our restrictive visa policies, which were viewed in the region as “an obstacle to commerce and travel”.
Mr Albanese said proposed reforms to the system would be addressed in the government’s upcoming migration review.
A call for a new “open skies” agreements with Southeast Asian nations, offering regional carriers unrestricted access to Australian airports, is also under consideration but Mr Albanese cautioned such deals would be done only in the national interest.
Ahead of the East Asia Summit on Thursday, which US President Joe Biden and China’s Xi Jinping both opted out of, Chinese Premier Li Qiang urged ASEAN nations Japan and South Korea not to let differences descend into a new Cold War.
“We all gain from peace and prosperity and suffer in the event of upheavals and chaos.
“We all played our part in creating the Asian miracle of economic growth,” Mr Qiang told the ASEAN Plus Three summit in comments that also talked up “bright prospects” for the Chinese economy.
“Facing up to problems is a prerequisite for finding solutions whereas an ostrich policy only makes things worse.
“What is essential now is to oppose picking sides, oppose bloc confrontation … and a new Cold War.”
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