Matt Thistlethwaite, Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade: Good morning, everyone. It's an honour for me to be back in the Philippines, my second trip in six months, to reinforce the strong economic and social engagement that exists between Australia and our partner nation, the Philippines. This morning, I joined Secretary Goh to formally announce PROGRESS, Australia's $45 million commitment over five years to enhancing economic ties and improving living standards and overseas development outcomes in the Philippines. This is a program that has been developed jointly by the Australian Government and the Philippines Government to deliver better economic outcomes to boost infrastructure and to improve living standards in communities throughout the Philippines. We announced this morning that the industries that we would like to concentrate on include renewable energy, resources and the development of the digital economy here in the Philippines, as well as providing new economic opportunities for people who've been marginalised like people with disabilities and women in society here in the Philippines to ensure that they get better economic outcomes into the future. So this is a great initiative, strengthening the partnership and the economic ties between Australia and the Philippines. It comes on the back of my meetings yesterday with ASEAN partners regarding the Australia-ASEAN New Zealand Free Trade Agreement, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership meeting and the Southeast Asian Forum meetings, where economic ministers reinforced our commitment to working together on securing our supply chains in the wake of the conflict in the Middle East, boosting our resources sectors, working together on energy security, but also ensuring that we're making a transition to a cleaner environment by boosting renewable energy and working together on projects such as that. And of course, the approach that we will take collectively to artificial intelligence development and data centres throughout the region. So it's been a very rewarding trip. I thank the Philippine government representatives and ministers that I've met with. Congratulations to the Philippines on a very successful chair year of ASEAN in 2026. The gavel has formally been handed over to Singapore and we look forward to continuing Australia's strong relationship with the Philippines and our ASEAN neighbours. Happy to take your questions.
Journalist: Good morning, Minister. I'm Joyce from [indistinct]. Just about the program, it has an initial $45 million commitment from Australia. What specific projects have been identified so far? And I believe it could be also extended for another five years [indistinct].
Assistant Minister: After the launch, I met with secretaries of five different departments who will be involved in this program to understand what the priorities of the Philippines government are regarding economic development here. The areas that we discussed include renewable energy development, the establishment of a carbon market, the offshore wind industry and its development here in the Philippines and how Australia can work together with those government departments on realising that potential of renewable energy here in the Philippines. We also talked about infrastructure development and the pipeline of infrastructure that is needed for the Philippines to realise its potential and to grow its economy into the future. We talked about red tape reduction and how we can improve the efficiency of government decision-making and approval processes for economic projects. And we also discussed economic empowerment for women, for small businesses, for people with disabilities and micro businesses and how they can be established here in the Philippines. So that's the flavour of the areas that that funding will go towards. Australia has appointed a partner in the Boston Consulting Group who will work with the government departments here in the Philippines to work on the details of putting together those funding commitments and those projects as we roll them out over the next five years.
Journalist: Are you looking at possible pilot areas here, perhaps in the Luzon areas?
Assistant Minister: That will rely on the requests from the Philippine government. This project is very much about providing support for the Philippines government to deliver on their priorities. We certainly support the Marcos Government's very ambitious economic program of development and we'll work closely with government representatives on what their priorities are and how we can partner to deliver those priorities and at the same time deliver economic enhancement and opportunities for women, for people with disabilities and marginalised groups in the Philippines.
Journalist: Hi, good morning. So you mentioned projects on renewable energy and red tape production. So have you already discussed how much of these projects we'll get from the $45 million grant?
Assistant Minister: We haven't allocated funding to specific projects yet. We're very much in the scoping phase and working with the various Philippine government departments to identify where the priorities are and ensuring that the projects stack up and they make solid economic sense. But the issues that were discussed this morning are very much the priorities of the Marcos Government in achieving that economic development, particularly in those areas where the Philippines can gain an advantage in terms of developing industries in Southeast Asia that will be in high demand into the future, where you can utilise the very youthful population that you have, which is an economic advantage for your country, and you can capitalise on the growing need and the growing interest in investing in a growing economy like the Philippines where there's huge economic opportunity.
Journalist: Good morning, I'm Justine Tabile from Businessworld. I understand that the purpose of the program is to address the barriers to economic growth for the Philippines. In the previous press release back in March, there was a mention that it is also meant to create quality jobs for Filipinos. Have you sent any concrete number on how much you want? How many jobs do you want to create in the program?
Assistant Minister: We want to see Filipinos benefit from this program, particularly in those priority areas that Australia has identified women's empowerment, empowerment of people with disabilities and marginalised groups. This is a focus of our overseas development program and we're working with Philippines government departments on identifying where those projects would best meet those aims. In terms of job creation, obviously that's an outcome that we would like to see, particularly in communities throughout the Philippines. I can't give you the numbers. We'll work on those with the government departments, but over time I think you'll start to see projects being announced under this program and they will generate jobs in local communities that would be beneficial to the Philippines population.
Journalist: Hello, good morning. This is Derco Rosal from Manila Bulletin. I'm particularly curious about the $45 million Australian dollars ceiling. What made you decide that the ceiling would be at that level and are you also prepared to, you know, disburse larger amounts should the government, should the Philippine government request for larger grants?
Assistant Minister: So this program comes about as a result of consultation and partnership between Australia and the Philippines. It builds on other programs that we've had in the overseas development space, equity is one of those, and other economic empowerment. programs. Australia, our government budgets an amount that we allocate to Southeast Asian economic development each year and the amount that we've allocated in the most recent Budget is the highest that it's ever been from Australia's perspective. And we see this region as an economic powerhouse of the future and one that has great potential and opportunity to develop and improve the living standards of the Filipino people and Southeast Asians more broadly. So Australia wants to partner, we want to make sure that we enhance these business-to-business links, that Australian foreign direct investment is looking to Southeast Asia as a place to invest, and that our economic partnerships between our governments are facilitating that economic development and PROGRESS is a way to achieve that at a micro level. It's about responding to the wishes of the Filipino government and at the same time delivering those economic development outcomes in communities, particularly more remote communities throughout the Philippines so that those particularly marginalised groups can benefit from that economic development.
Journalist: Just a clarification on the status of all disbursement. Has the grant been already disbursed or when are you planning to disburse it? Is it by tranche or as a bond?
Assistant Minister: The money's been allocated by the Australian Government. The individual projects will be determined. by the Australian Government in partnership with the Filipino government and the government departments. So that partnership will identify projects that meet the requirements of the program and ensure that they're producing better economic outcomes for the people of the Philippines. So over time, as these projects are approved, we will make announcements in conjunction with the Philippines government regarding those projects and what they are, what they mean for communities in the Philippines. But at the moment, the funding has been allocated from the Australian Government. It's now up to us to work together on providing that funding to individual projects.
Journalist: Good morning, everyone. I just want to ask specifics of the ODA. How long would be the repayment period and how much would be the principal and interest fees?
Assistant Minister: It's $45 million over five years. There's no repayment period. It works as a grant program and an economic empowerment program. So how that will work is up to the partnership between the Philippines and Australia, it can be in the form of grants, it can be in the form of economic empowerment programs. That's a matter of meeting the guidelines of the program and working with the Philippines government to understand what their priorities are. Australia is allocating this funding around economic empowerment and we want to work with the Philippines government. We've just had a very productive meeting where the secretaries of the five departments have outlined their priority areas, and now our agencies will work with them to realise that potential. Thanks everyone. Have a great day.