It’s great to join you today to launch phase two of Katalis – Katalis 2.0.
But before then, let me pivot to something close to my heart. And that’s chocolate.
I love it, my family loves it, and Australians love it, with each person consuming an average of about six kilograms every year.
Combined we eat about 160,000 tonnes annually, the same weight as three Sydney Harbour Bridges.
A morning tea, a late night treat, the satisfying sweet end to a meal.
But it’s a rare thing in that we don’t grow a lot of it at home, we only have a small number of cocoa farms concentrated around the wet tropics of North Queensland.
We rely on imports to satisfy the bulk of our cravings with beans imported from Peru, and PNG, and Africa, and prepared chocolate shipped in from Europe and elsewhere.
We import some cocoa, and cocoa butter, and cocoa paste from Indonesia, one of our region’s largest producers of beans and the sixth largest in the world.
There are opportunities under our Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, to expand our access to cocoa and processed cocoa from Indonesia.
And under Katalis phase one, we helped support Indonesian businesses to take advantage of some of these opportunities.
We invested in market research, hosted workshops with Indonesian businesses across the value chain, and even brought exporters over to Australia to see the market for themselves.
And as a result, several Indonesian premium cocoa producers have entered the Australian market, becoming part of a threefold increase in the value of Indonesian cocoa exports to Australia between 2022 and 2025.
It’s just one Katalis project that is helping to turn the promise of IA-CEPA into practical outcomes for people, and business.
It joins other Katalis projects like supporting Privy, one of Indonesia’s fastest growing digital trust and digital identity companies to develop a market entry strategy for Australia, gaining the confidence to invest and establish operations in Sydney, and bring its technology and ideas to Australian clients and partners.
Or supporting Living Well Seniors Communities to partner with universities in Indonesia and deliver Australian accredited aged-care training for nurses whose graduates have since taken up employment opportunities in Australia.
These projects, and over twenty more, have helped create more opportunities for our people, and businesses: meeting the challenges ahead by strengthening our economic resilience, and delivering shared prosperity for both Australia and Indonesia.
And so today, I am delighted to officially launch Katalis 2.0.
Phase two will focus on inclusive economic growth: to support small and medium-sized enterprises, women-led businesses, and under-represented groups to take advantage of bilateral trade and investment opportunities on offer.
And it will continue to find tangible opportunities for our businesses and communities under IA-CEPA: connecting businesses, encouraging investment, supporting skills development and fostering partnerships that deliver real impact.
We’ll also do our best on the government side of things to remove impediments to trade and investment.
In 2024, we extended validity of business visitor visas to five years and made a frequent traveller stream available to Indonesian visitors.
With Katalis 2.0 we have the means to continue to expand and deepen our economic partnership, driving growth, jobs and prosperity for us both.
And as you can see, we have every reason to be optimistic about the future…especially where it promises more chocolate.
Thank you.