(Acknowledgments omitted)
Every generation inherits a different world.
Bill McKell's generation inherited one at war.
Our generation has inherited one that is, yet again, becoming increasingly uncertain.
McKell was a practical reformer.
He believed the government could improve people's lives.
That capable institutions mattered.
And that progress is not something that just happens, but something we choose to build.
Those beliefs still ring true today.
McKell governed during one of the most consequential periods in modern history.
When he became Premier of New South Wales in 1941, the world was at war.
When he left office nearly six years later, the world had begun the challenging task of building a new international order based on rules, institutions and cooperation.
By the time McKell became Australia's Governor-General, the post-war optimism that had fueled much of that work had started to give way to the uncertainty of the Cold War.
His generation had witnessed the catastrophic consequences of conflict.
This was followed by anxiety driven by the fragility of peace and the prospect of war breaking out once again, and this time between nuclear powers.
Yet instead of retreating from the world, countries came together to build institutions and create new forums for dialogue and cooperation.
Countries persevered with this rules-based order, as imperfect as it was, to build and maintain the conditions for dialogue and cooperation.
In hope of avoiding a repetition of history.
Australia played an important role in that work.
Through leaders like Dr H. V. Evatt, we helped shape and protect institutions that reflected a simple but enduring belief. That peace is not sustained simply by preventing conflict. It is sustained when people have the opportunity, security and dignity to build better lives.
That belief still matters today.
For a country like Australia, international cooperation has never simply been a matter of idealism.
It was a practical judgement about the kind of world in which Australia could be safe, prosperous and free to make our own choices
As a middle-power in a socio-culturally diverse region, Australia has necessarily depended on more than geography or military power for our security and prosperity.
We depend on institutions that enable countries, large or small, to work together on shared challenges and resolve differences peacefully.
International development did not simply emerge alongside that mission.
It became one of the ways that mission was realised.
It was a shared understanding that investing in human capital, supporting economic growth and strengthening institutions meant more stable and prosperous countries.
For decades, this vision has helped deliver extraordinary progress.
Hundreds of millions of people lifted out of extreme poverty.
Life expectancy increased.
Women's participation in the workforce and public life grew.
Many countries in our own region experienced profound economic transformation.
None of this happened because of international development alone.
But development cooperation was an important part of the global architecture that made such progress possible.
It reflected an understanding that peace and security are not just the absence of conflict.
But that lasting peace and security are founded on hope and opportunity. When people have reason to believe that tomorrow can be better than today.
When societies can look to the future with confidence.
For Australia, this has never been simply an abstract ideal.
We are an Indo-Pacific nation.
Our future will always be tied to the future of our region, and the choices we make together.
That is why Australia's development program matters.
Part of the challenge faced by McKell's generation still exists today.
We are not rebuilding after a world war, but we are still confronted with the task of how to preserve and strengthen the conditions that allow countries to cooperate, develop and prosper.
The modern international order was conceived at a time when the primary concern was conflict between countries.
That threat remains, but is compounded by new, diverse and overlapping challenges.
The rise of non-state actors and intra-state conflict. The rapid digital transformation and the rise of artificial intelligence. And climate change, one of the defining issues of our time.
The task before our region is therefore broader.
It goes to whether countries are able to pursue their own priorities.
Whether communities can withstand shocks without losing hard-won progress.
And it goes to whether cooperation itself can continue to deliver for people.
That is the challenge I want to explore today.
The future of international development in a time of uncertainty.
For much of the post-war period, countries could make long-term decisions with a reasonable expectation that the international system would broadly support peace, trade and development.
The institutions and rules that emerged after the Second World War reflected the values and interests of those who built them.
These institutions and rules were not universally conceived, nor universally embraced.
Yet despite their imperfection, our international order and multilateral institutions were broadly respected and valued through a shared belief in cooperation over competition.
Today, those conditions can no longer be taken for granted.
International law is under pressure.
Humanitarian principles are being tested.
Strategic competition is intensifying.
For many countries, that means more pressure and fewer buffers.
It means governments are being asked to invest in health, education, infrastructure, climate adaptation and economic resilience while managing debt, rising prices and tighter budgets.
We have seen how conflict in the Middle East can reverberate far beyond the region itself.
Disruptions to global trade and energy markets have reminded us that instability rarely remains contained.
Shocks travel further and faster, and their impacts are felt well beyond where they begin.
And development gains which took decades to achieve can be placed at risk in a matter of weeks or months.
Across our own region, developing countries are confronting a convergence of pressures.
Climate change is reshaping lives and economies.
From more frequent and more severe disasters, with devastating humanitarian consequences.
To increasing food and water insecurity, leading to displacement or competition for scarce resources.
Overlay rapid urbanisation. Demographic realignment. Debt distress. And the contraction of traditional aid.
Economies across our region are struggling under this sustained pressure.
None of this means international cooperation has failed.
Nor does it mean we should retreat from it.
If anything, it means cooperation matters more than ever.
The question is not whether development matters.
It always has and it always will.
But the question for us now is how we pursue development in a world that has become more uncertain.
I believe the answer is this.
Development today must do more than reduce poverty.
It must also help societies build the confidence and capability to navigate uncertainty without losing the ability to shape their own future.
Education matters because it equips young people to adapt to changing economies.
Health matters because resilient health systems help societies withstand future crises.
Effective institutions matter because governments that can deliver for their people are better equipped to respond to economic, environmental and strategic shocks.
And women's empowerment matters because no country can realise its full potential while half its population continues to face barriers to participation, leadership and opportunity.
These are real development outcomes.
Together, they also help build societies that are more capable of navigating uncertainty and shaping their own future.
That confidence is not sentimental. It is practical. It is strategic. And in an uncertain world, it is increasingly valuable.
And without this confidence, people and communities can become more vulnerable to harmful narratives.
Without opportunity and confidence, people become more vulnerable to organised crime, violent extremism and other forms of instability.
These issues aren't just contained within the borders of foreign countries. They are transnational in nature.
This is why I reject the sometimes arbitrary distinction that Australia must somehow choose between altruism and acting in the preservation of our national interest.
That has never reflected the reality of Australia's development program.
We invest because expanding opportunity and supporting the ability of people to shape their own futures are worthwhile ends in themselves.
We also invest because Australia's future cannot be separated from the future of our region.
Those are not competing objectives.
In our region, they are one and the same.
A peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific is profoundly in Australia's national interest.
International development, and how we partner in delivering it, helps build the conditions in which that future is possible.
If development matters differently in a more uncertain world, then Australia's approach to development must also evolve.
For this Government, the answer begins with partnership.
Australia's future, and that of the Indo-Pacific, will not be secured by acting alone.
That is why this Government has made a deliberate choice to deepen Australia's engagement across the Indo-Pacific.
We are doing this by leveraging the entirety of our statecraft. Diplomacy. Trade. Defence.
And international development.
Because development is one of the most practical ways we can invest in a region that is peaceful, stable and prosperous.
This commitment is reflected in our Government's choices.
The 2026-27 Development Budget is not simply a statement of expenditure. It is a statement about the kind of partner Australia intends to be, and about where we believe our responsibilities are greatest.
Today, more than three quarters of every dollar in Australia's development program is invested in the Indo-Pacific.
Not because challenges elsewhere do not matter.
They do.
But because the Indo-Pacific is where Australia's future will be shaped, and where Australia has the greatest responsibility and ability to contribute.
Partnership also requires trust.
And trust is built through consistency.
That is why, at a time when global development financing is under pressure and many traditional donors are stepping back, Australia has chosen to stay the course.
We have maintained our development budget, including indexation.
Because Australia's consistency is one of our greatest strategic assets.
For Australia, partnership begins with respect.
Respect for sovereignty.
Respect for partner priorities.
Respect for local institutions.
That means listening before acting.
It means recognising that lasting development cannot be imposed from the outside.
It must be locally led.
Respect for sovereignty is not simply a diplomatic principle.
It is a development principle.
It is reflected in the way we design our development program.
Under Australia's International Development Policy, we have published twenty Development Partnership Plans, across every major country and region where Australia delivers development assistance.
These plans have been prepared with partner governments, local organisations and communities themselves.
They reflect our partners' priorities, and not ones which we've imposed on them.
Timor-Leste, for example, identified climate adaption as a key priority in its Development Partnership Plan.
We are now integrating climate considerations across the entirety of our development program in Timor-Leste, while also supporting targeted climate adaptation initiatives.
Through our Disaster READY program, we are backing Australian NGOs to partner with local organisations to capture rainfall and feed it back into the ground in Timor-Leste.
By capturing rainfall, protecting natural springs and preventing erosion, communities are strengthening their resilience to a changing climate.
This is a practical example of community-led solutions shaped by local knowledge and priorities.
How we partner matters because development is strongest when it is owned by the countries and communities it is intended to serve. It is weakest when it substitutes external judgement for local leadership.
Our partners understand their own countries and communities better than we ever could.
Australia's role is to bring investment, expertise and long-term commitment in support of the future they choose for themselves and their people.
That philosophy is reflected most clearly in Australia's partnerships across the Pacific.
Over recent years, Australia has fundamentally deepened these relationships through agreements with Fiji, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.
We are also in the process of negotiating elevated partnerships with Solomon Islands and Tonga.
Each partnership is different, reflecting the priorities and circumstances of the country involved.
But all are grounded in a commitment to long term partnership, shared resilience and respect for sovereignty.
The Vuvale Union and Ocean of Peace Alliance signed by Prime Minister Albanese and Prime Minister Rabuka yesterday is a powerful example of that approach.
Fiji has been one of Australia's closest development partners for decades. Through the Ocean of Peace Alliance, Fiji is also now our newest ally.
These agreements rest on shared trust and a deep respect for sovereignty.
They reflect an understanding that in a more uncertain world, Australia and Fiji are stronger when we invest in one another's success.
Through the Vuvale Union, we will work together to tackle Fiji and the region's highest priority challenges.
Challenges such as transnational crime.
Together we will build Fiji's policing and maritime capabilities to disrupt organised criminals seeking to traffic illicit drugs across the Pacific Ocean.
Challenges such as health security.
With Fiji facing a fast-moving HIV crisis, our partnership includes foundational funding for a new national hospital and training for the workforce to staff it.
These are investments in Fiji and the region's capability.
They are also investments in Australia's security.
When we work with Fiji to disrupt the drug trade, we help stop illicit drug shipments reaching Australia.
When we back Fiji's response to HIV, we also strengthen regional health security.
That is what partnership looks like when development and security reinforce one another.
It is also a reminder that respect for sovereignty works in tandem to advance Australia's national interests.
Our interests are best advanced when our partners are stronger, more capable, and better able to pursue their own priorities.
The old dividing lines between development and national interest no longer hold.
Health security, policing capability, institutional strength and economic resilience are not separate from Australia's interests. In our region, they are how Australia's interests are advanced.
The same philosophy also shapes Australia's engagement across Southeast Asia.
In Southeast Asia our development program responds to regional priorities including sustainable economic growth, addressing climate change and human development.
In doing so, we are strengthening institutions, expanding opportunity and deepening people-to-people relationships that underpin our broader engagement with the region.
One of the most enduring examples of our close ties to the region is our tertiary scholarships program, the Australia Awards.
Education has always been one of the most meaningful investments we can make. Not simply because it develops skills, but because it builds relationships, institutions and leadership that last for decades.
Australia Awards are a core part of our development program.
They provide scholarships for tertiary study, research and professional development in Australia.
And nowhere is this better illustrated than in Indonesia.
Indonesia is one of our closest neighbours. And Indonesia is one of our closest friends.
It is a friendship which we have recently taken to a new level through the Jakarta Treaty signed between Prime Minister Albanese and President Prabowo.
When I visited Indonesia last year, I met Australia Awards alumni whose careers have taken them into government, universities, business and civil society.
They are members of a network of graduates from Australian institutions which is now more than 200,000 strong in Indonesia alone. Each with their own passion and vision to lead change.
They are our region's future academics, digital innovators, human rights advocates, journalists and climate change practitioners.
People like Fandy Dawenan, who studied at Flinders University in Adelaide and has dedicated his life to empowering people who are blind or have low vision.
Or Meutya Hafid, who studied manufacturing engineering at the University of New South Wales and is now Indonesia's Minister of Communication and Digital Affairs.
Or Mouly Surya, who studied at Queensland's Bond University and Swinburne University in Melbourne, and went on to become an internationally acclaimed filmmaker.
Each alumni, with their own special connections to Australia.
Each having leveraged opportunities through our development program to make their mark.
What struck me most was not simply where the scholars had studied.
It was the sense of responsibility they felt for the future of their own country.
That is development at its best.
Not creating dependency.
But investing in people who have the capability and drive to shape the future of their own societies.
That is development measured not simply in projects, but in people.
And it is a reminder that some development outcomes cannot be counted only in the year they are funded. A scholarship may be awarded in one year, but the relationship it creates can shape decisions, institutions and cooperation for decades.
This approach also shapes how Australia works beyond governments.
One of the great strengths of Australia's development program is that it is delivered through relationships extending well beyond official institutions.
Through Australian universities, businesses, civil society organisations, diaspora communities and volunteers.
These partners bring expertise, relationships and connections that governments alone cannot create.
They also help ensure development is grounded in the communities it is intended to serve.
Because development is ultimately local.
The greatest impacts are felt when people themselves are empowered to come up with solutions to the unique challenges they face.
People themselves understand the history, geography, culture and social structures that shape their societies better than anyone.
That is why the most capable and effective partnerships must be locally led.
Take Australia's peacebuilding work in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of the southern Philippines.
The Bangsamoro has experienced prolonged insurgency and localised conflict.
For three decades, Australia has been a steadfast partner in supporting peace and development in the southern Philippines.
Working through The Asia Foundation, Australia is helping communities strengthen local institutions before conflict escalates.
Local peace networks are bringing together community leaders, religious leaders, civil society organisations and local government to mediate disputes and support peaceful solutions.
This work is also helping ensure women and young people are part of local peacebuilding and social cohesion efforts.
Peace processes are more durable when they are inclusive.
They are more durable when women are part of them.
And they are more durable when young people can see a role for themselves in a different future.
These are not Australian solutions.
They are locally led solutions supported through long-term partnership.
That is why they endure.
Looking to the future also means recognising that governments alone cannot meet the scale of the challenges before us.
In a world where development needs continue to grow and public resources are increasingly constrained, partnership must also extend to mobilising new sources of investment.
Such as bringing public and private capital together.
Government, business and philanthropy.
Our impact investment fund, Australian Development Investments, reflects this approach.
By making targeted early investments, we are helping to attract private finance into projects that advance development outcomes while creating long-term commercial opportunities.
The Orange Bond Initiative is another example.
This initiative is helping women entrepreneurs access finance that has too often been beyond their reach.
It is supporting financial institutions to develop products and services designed for women.
At different scales, both are practical examples of partnerships evolving to meet the challenges of our time.
Strong partnerships are enduring. They don't end simply because a milestone has been achieved.
This is why Australia will remain a development partner with Nauru, even if Nauru graduates from eligibility for development assistance.
Because Nauru, like many other Small Island Developing States, faces structural vulnerability including to climate and economic shocks.
When the rules-based order is under strain, strong partnerships become more important than ever.
But investing in partnerships does not mean turning away from multilateralism.
In fact, the opposite is true. Multilateral cooperation is one of the truest forms of partnership.
Australia will always be steadfast in our commitment to the international norms, institutions and forums which allow countries to protect their sovereignty, while cooperating and peacefully resolving disagreements.
We have to.
But for there to be confidence in the rules-based order and multilateral system, it must remain contemporary and fit for purpose.
This is why we will continue to advocate for meaningful reform, such as on the criteria that determine the eligibility of countries to receive development assistance.
Finally, there is one last partnership I want to talk about today.
The partnership between government and the Australian people.
Australia's development program ultimately depends on public confidence.
Confidence that public money is being invested wisely and that Australia's partnerships are delivering real outcomes.
And that development contributes to a peaceful, stable and prosperous region, which is also in Australia's own interests.
That confidence cannot be taken for granted.
It must be renewed through accountability, transparency and results.
And Government cannot do that alone.
Civil society, faith groups, diaspora groups, universities, businesses, volunteers and philanthropists all help connect development with human experience and real-world impacts.
Because if Australians understand what we are achieving through our development cooperation, I believe they will continue to support it.
If we are to remain a trusted and reliable partner in our region, we must also continue to earn the confidence at home.
When leaders of Bill McKell's generation looked at the world after the Second World War, they understood something that remains profoundly relevant today.
A better future would not simply arrive.
It would have to be built.
They chose to build institutions, underpinned by international rules and norms, that made cooperation, as well as the peaceful resolution of differences, possible.
They chose to invest in development because they understood that peace and security would depend not only on the absence of conflict, but also on the presence of opportunity.
Our generation does not face the same task.
But we are called to show the same resolve.
We are living through another period of profound change.
It is a period in which uncertainty is becoming a defining feature of global affairs.
That reality presents nations with a choice.
They can see uncertainty as a reason to retreat, become more transactional or to narrow their horizons.
Or they can recognise that uncertainty makes partnerships even more valuable.
Partnerships which enable cooperation on shared challenges and opportunities.
Partnerships which create the foundations for dialogue on areas of disagreement.
And partnerships that are backed by long-term investments in people, societies and institutions.
Australia has made its choice. We choose partnership.
We do not make this choice because it is easy.
We make it because the alternative is a region in which shocks are harder to absorb, institutions are weaker, and trust is more fragile.
This choice is reflected in how we partner across our region. By listening, supporting partner priorities and respecting sovereignty.
And it is reflected in our decision to continue to invest in international development at a time when many traditional donors are stepping back.
Because trust and reliability are not things Australia simply talks about. They are things we choose to demonstrate.
Not because we believe development alone can solve every challenge.
It cannot.
But because we know that stronger societies and stronger partnerships make every challenge more manageable.
This is what gives countries greater confidence to navigate uncertainty.
It is how Australia can help preserve the conditions in which cooperation can continue to flourish.
And it is a reminder that development is not only about responding when things go wrong. It is also about investing in the conditions that allow things to go right.
That is the task ahead for all of us. And that is the choice Australia has made.
Thank you.