I would like to start by acknowledging the Traditional Custodians of Brisbane and its surrounding areas, the Yaggera, Turrabul, Yuggarrapul, Jinabara, and Quandamooka peoples.
I would like to acknowledge:
- His Excellency, Dr Siswo Pramono, Ambassador of the Republic of Indonesia to Australia and Vanuatu,
- The Right Honourable Lord Mayor of Brisbane, Cr. Adrian Schrinner,
- Queensland Minister for Finance, Trade, Employment and Training, the Honourable Ros Bates MP,
- Australian Business Champion for Indonesia, Jennifer Westacott AO,
- And many thanks to David Widjaja and his team for making this event happen
It is great to be here to enjoy a winter's day in Brisbane.
As we gather to celebrate the thriving and enduring partnership between Australia and Indonesia and the people who are driving its future.
Today's Conference also comes only four days after an anniversary of tremendous significance eighty years since the Indonesian people courageously declared independence.
This is an incredible milestone.
And one which Australia is delighted to also celebrate as one of the first countries to support the Indonesian people in their fight for independence.
In September 1945, Australian maritime workers famously blocked and boycotted hundreds of Dutch ships that were attempting to travel to Indonesia to quell the resistance.
But rumblings of resistance were felt even earlier, including right here in Brisbane.
In 1942, at the same time General MacArthur was running the Pacific Theatre from just over the road in Queen Street there was an American military camp south-west of here, in Wacol called Camp Columbia.
Camp Columbia was initially established as a US Army training and administration base.
But in 1944, it became home to the Netherlands East Indies Government in Exile and the staging camp from which to launch the liberation and recolonisation of what was then the Dutch East Indies.
We can hardly imagine this situation today a foreign government, operating from an American military base, on Australian soil.
But that was exactly what happened in 1944, south-west of here, down in Wacol.
To tell the rest of this story, I need to jump up to what was then Dutch New Guinea, and a prison camp called Tanah Merah on the Digul River.
This prison held political prisoners from the Communist uprisings of the 1920s.
And the Government in Exile feared these prisoners could ally with the Japanese in exchange for greater independence.
So the Dutch acted and evacuated the prisoners to Australia.
But as it became clear that these people were in fact political prisoners their detention in Australia was no longer tenable.
And Australia forced their release.
To Dutch run hostels and hospitals, and to Dutch work camps.
Including to Camp Columbia.
From these camps, the former political prisoners would continue the fight for Indonesian independence, alongside Indonesian employees of the Government in Exile.
And indeed, the central office for the Indonesian independence movement was established in Brisbane to be close to the camp.
Indonesia's fight for independence was one that Australia supported for our strategic interests, and as an articulation of our values.
And now, as it was then, we recognise our future is intertwined with the future of Indonesia: as a vital strategic, security, economic, and development partner.
We are growing our cooperation across all of these domains.
Today you will hear a lot about our strategic economic engagement and the opportunities for shared growth.
We have a solid starting position Indonesia is our ninth largest two-way trading partner, and since the entry-into-force of the IA-CEPAfree trade agreement trade between our countries has doubled.
Two years ago, the Prime Minister launched Invested: Australia's Southeast Asia Economic Strategy to 2040 in Jakarta.
This gives us a pathway to boost our two-way economic ties and take advantage of growth areas like renewable energy, agritech and manufacturing, education and research, mining technology, infrastructure, and healthcare.
Our newly established Deals Team in Jakarta has already identified 117 Indonesian projects for potential investment and has progressed 22 to further assessment.
You will hear more about this tempo of investment and engagement shortly, from our Business Champion for Indonesia, Jennifer Westacott, and other speakers.
But I want to touch on one aspect of this growth in particular, as an example of how we continue to support one another and our communities.
With the help of the Deals Team in Jakarta, we've recently seen ICON Oncology open a state-of-the-art Centre within the Bali International Hospital.
Currently 65 per cent of cancer diagnoses occur at the advanced stage of cancer. It is one of the leading causes of death from non-communicable disease in Indonesia.
The Centre the first foreign oncology provider in the country will provide Indonesians with access to world-class cancer care.
There's also Australian company, Aspen Medical, which has formed a joint venture with Docta, to operate mobile healthcare clinics across West Java.
This will build 650 healthcare clinics, and 23 hospitals adding more than six thousand beds for this province of 50 million people.
And the first hospital is already under construction.
We're also seeing Indonesian companies supporting better healthcare in our communities.
Privy is one of Indonesia's leading tech companies, and it established its Australian presence in 2023.
It is now applying innovative digital trust technologies to a number of sectors, like healthcare.
These examples demonstrate how our people: our businesses and industry, are working to deliver real change to people's lives.
As the Prime Minister said in his visit to Jakarta in May, "The future of our relationship lies with our people.
"Australians and Indonesians: working side by side to build on the values and interests we hold in common."
I thank you for your work to create this future one that builds on more than eighty years of support for one another.
Thank you.