Indian Ocean Roundtable remarks, Perth USAsia Centre

I acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land on which we meet, the Whadjuk Noongar people, and pay my respect to Elders, past and present.

I also acknowledge any Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people here with us today.

[Acknowledgments]

Just over six months ago, the Foreign Minister, Penny Wong, hosted the 7th Indian Ocean Conference with India's Minister for External Affairs, Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, here in Perth.

The Conference – capably co-delivered by the Perth USAsia Centre, and attended by a head of state, 17 ministers, secretaries-general and around 400 delegates from 34 countries – demonstrated the importance of the Indian Ocean region to Australia and our partners, and also highlighted our shared interests.

Australia is an Indian Ocean country.

I'm speaking to the converted in Perth when I say Perth is our Indian Ocean capital – we don't forget that in Canberra.

Australia has one of the Indian Ocean's longest coastlines, the largest Search and Rescue Zone, and the largest Exclusive Economic Zone.

We are part of an Indian Ocean region that is home to two billion people.

A region that hosts more than a third of the world's bulk cargo traffic and two-thirds of global oil shipments.

What happens in the Indian Ocean matters, directly and centrally.

It directly affects the peace, prosperity and security of Australia.

It affects all our neighbours who share the Indian Ocean as their home.

And what happens here can have consequences around the world.

That is why Australia was proud to host the Indian Ocean Conference.

It is why the Foreign Minister emphasised the importance of working together as shared custodians of the Indian Ocean.

And it is why we are an active Indian Ocean partner who wants to work with others to shape the kind of region we want.

A region that is peaceful, stable and prosperous.

A region that operates according to agreed rules, norms and international law, where sovereignty is respected and where individual countries are free to make their own choices.

A region where no country dominates, and no country is dominated.

None of us can achieve a region with these attributes by ourselves, and it isn't getting any easier.

Since we met in February, countries of the Indian Ocean region are managing an increasing number of intensifying challenges.

At the same time, the broad economic, strategic and political trends around the Indo-Pacific and the globe are deeply challenging.

The recent political upheaval in Bangladesh is shaping transformative change in our neighbourhood.

Australia stood with the people of Bangladesh during the recent civil unrest and will work with its Interim Government, including Chief Adviser Professor Yunus, as Bangladesh transitions to a democratic and inclusive future.

Further afield, the situation in the Middle East has worsened.

What is happening in Gaza is catastrophic and we are gravely concerned that the conflict will further escalate across the region.

The situation in Myanmar has worsened – and like others, we continue to call on the regime there to implement its commitments under the ASEAN Five Point Consensus.

Conditions in Myanmar's Rakhine state are causing more Rohingya to seek refuge in already over-burdened camps in Bangladesh, compounding our region's longest-running and most severe humanitarian crisis.

An unprecedented conventional and non-conventional military build-up in the Indo-Pacific continues, without transparency about strategic intent.

The scourge of illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing threatens the Blue Economy, and the livelihoods and stability that rely upon it.

And like the rest of the globe, the Indian Ocean region is facing threats from climate change.

In the past 18 months, 33 million people in Pakistan and seven million people in Bangladesh have been displaced by floods.

Glaciers are melting in the Himalayas; and record heat waves are affecting agriculture and water use across the region.

Africa has faced protracted droughts and cyclones.

Profound demographic shifts are taking place – the consequences of which will be extremely unpredictable.

Economic disruption continues apace, driven by the unprecedented rate of technological change as well as intense geopolitical and business competition.

Transnational crime and terrorism – including piracy in the Indian Ocean - continue to challenge the security and economic prosperity of the region.

In the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea, attacks on international shipping – as well as the conflict in and around Israel – have intensified, with sharp impacts on already-stretched global supply chains.

This affects all countries through the flow-on effects of higher inflation.

And the instability is a profound source of people movement.

The impetus for displacement in many parts of the Indo-Pacific is powerful – and I know the Foreign Minister was deeply affected by what she saw when she visited Cox's Bazaar in May.

Despite this challenging context, Australia is more determined than ever to shape an Indian Ocean region that aligns with our interests.

That's why we are investing in our own national power and applying all the tools of statecraft available to us.

So that together, with our neighbours, and with the international community, we can make things better.

Unfortunately, there are no quick fixes – none of these issues can be solved overnight.

But there are things we can do as a regional and global community.

In her speech in February, the Foreign Minister set out some of the big things we can – and have to – do.

One of those things is building an Indian Ocean community.

She said:

"As expanding military powers take a greater interest in our region… we each need to sharpen our focus, on what our interests are, and how to work together to uphold them."

And she added that we need to:

"[build] an Indian Ocean community, with habits of cooperation and of collaboration. Embracing our diversity as a strength in our partnership. We need to forge our regional architecture and shape a regional identity... Our shared focus must be on what we need to do so we can make our own choices, according to our own laws and values, and pursue our own prosperity, respecting but not deferring to others. Working in an open and transparent way that instils confidence in the choices that are offered – choices that are credible, genuine and enduring."

The Indian Ocean region spans from the East Coast of Africa, to the West Coast of Australia, it encompasses Southeast Asian nations, South Asia and all the island nations in between.

Each of our nations has its own perspective, its own interests and its own priorities.

But despite that diversity, we have much in common.

We need to shape and maintain a region that allows each of us to pursue our own interests and priorities in ways that do not prevent others from doing the same.

A region that operates according to a set of transparent and consistent agreed rules, which we have all had a role in shaping...

...that respects sovereignty and human rights...

...that instils confidence in and maintains our peaceful region...

...in a way that is credible, genuine and enduring.

This is Australia's approach to the Indian Ocean region.

We want to model positive, thoughtful and deliberate conduct across the region, working together to support development, security and stability for all.

That's why we have worked hard with our co-chairs Indonesia to develop and build the Bali Process on People Smuggling, Trafficking in Persons and Related Transnational Crime as a means of managing irregular migration.

It's why we are increasing our investment in climate resilience in the region through our development assistance program under our new International Development Policy.

It's why we're investing in our defence capability – and our capacity to work with regional partners in a defence context – particularly our investments in our defence capabilities in Western Australia and the North East Indian Ocean in accordance with the 2024 National Defence Strategy.

It's also why the Foreign Minister and I have spent so much time engaging with IORA and with Indian Ocean nations directly.

We are committed to IORA as the premier ministerial-level forum for the Indian Ocean.

In the last two and a half years I have attended two IORA Council of Ministers meetings, in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

I have also attended two Indian Ocean Conferences, in Bangladesh in 2023 and this year in Perth.

As I have already noted, the Foreign Minister visited Bangladesh in May – the first bilateral visit by an Australian Minister to Bangladesh in 26 years.

Under this government, we have opened a new High Commission in Maldives and a Consulate-General in Bengaluru.

I also opened the Consulate-General in Kolkata last year, which demonstrates the strength of our bilateral relationship with India – where, with the Bengaluru and Kolkata consulates, we now have the same diplomatic footprint as we do in China.

And we're preparing a new Roadmap for Australia's Economic Engagement with India to build on those existing deep people-to-people links.

This is who we are.

A diverse, engaged Indian Ocean country.

A partner that is keen to make a difference in the region we live in and to shape it in positive ways.

So that we can all live in an Indian Ocean region that is peaceful, stable and prosperous.

Thank you.