Address to the Australia India Institute Trilateral Maritime Security Dialogue

It is a pleasure to join you this morning for this Trilateral Maritime Security Dialogue, and to speak to you on behalf of the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence.

It gives me an opportunity to reconnect with my former parliamentary colleague Lisa Singh, now doing such important work here at the Australia India Institute to strengthen this vital and growing bilateral relationship.

Lisa and I connected in 2016 as Parliamentary colleagues with a shared love for the Australia-India bilateral relationship, and an appreciation of the richness of its connections across history, culture, people and politics. 

AUSTRALIA-INDIA BILATERAL RELATIONSHIP

The extent of the evolution in our bilateral relationship in the intervening years is truly remarkable.

We’ve long outgrown the old stereotypes of the three “C”s of “curry, cricket and Commonwealth” toward a relationship defined by the four ‘Ds’ of democracy, defence, diaspora, and dosti - that wonderful Hindi word for friendship - with the trust and understanding the word implies.

Now in its fifth year, the Australia-India Comprehensive Strategic Partnership is going from strength to strength. 

It spans education, renewable energy, trade, investment and sport, and across the full panorama of people-to-people links, buoyed by a diaspora that is one of multicultural Australia’s greatest strengths. 

But it is the evolution in the Australia-India defence partnership that is truly groundbreaking.

In the past decade, we have tripled our annual defence engagements, and our diplomats and defence forces are working more closely together across the Indo-Pacific. 

Defence is now the bedrock of our partnership. And as we contemplate our vast, shared Indian Ocean coastlines, we both recognise the importance of deepening our cooperation in the maritime domain. 

We share a vision of an Indo-Pacific region that is secure and stable, peaceful and prosperous, and most importantly, share a commitment to play our part in the fulfilment of that shared vision. 

It is worth taking a moment to reflect on the unprecedented pace of growth in our bilateral defence engagement over just the past few years. 

In 2020, Australia joined India’s annual Exercise MALABAR alongside Japan and the US.

Three years later, Australia hosted the exercise for the first time. 

Since 2020, we have cooperated on bilateral maritime domain awareness by deploying patrol aircraft to each other’s territories eleven times.

In November 2024, we announced our Air-to-Air Refuelling Implementing Arrangement – India’s first with any partner. This will increase the range and endurance of our air forces.

And this year, India will participate in Exercise TALISMAN SABRE for the first time.

As you can see we’ve come a long way and we have seen one of the “Ds”, defence cooperation become the bedrock of our partnership with India – playing an important role in Indo-Pacific stability, including by protecting the sea-lanes of communication that are vital to our prosperity, enhancing our collective strength, and building collective deterrence.

AUSTRALIA-INDONESIA BILATERAL RELATIONSHIP

In a similar vein, the Albanese Government has prioritised deepening Australia’s relationship with Indonesia.

The shared history of our two nations is reaffirmed in the language of the Australian Government’s inaugural National Defence Strategy: Indonesia is an essential and enduring partner. 

At its core the Australia-Indonesia bilateral defence relationship is based on trust and mutual respect.

The signing of the Defence Cooperation Agreement by then-Defence Minister Prabowo, now of course President Prabowo, and Deputy Prime Minister Marles in August 2024 was a historic step, reflecting strong foundations built on mutual trust, transparency and a shared commitment to upholding the rules-based order in our region. 

And enhancing our relationship by supporting deepened cooperation and interoperability to the benefit of both countries and the region.

Following that momentous milestone, we conducted our largest ever joint Exercise KERIS WOOMERA in November 2024, which brought together more than 2000 personnel from Australia and Indonesia. 

The exercise featured air, maritime, amphibious and land operations, as well as a humanitarian assistance and disaster relief evacuation scenario.

It was the largest and most complex live fire exercise the ADF and the Indonesian National Armed Forces have conducted together in recent history, demonstrating our ability to work together effectively in support of regional security

And it’s fantastic to see that Indonesia will once again participate in Exercise TALISMAN SABRE this year.

TRILATERAL COOPERATION

So why a trilateral? It is natural to look to opportunities for greater trilateral cooperation. 

The reasons have always been there. 

In our shared history, Australia, Indonesia and India have all worked together. Australia supported Indonesian independence from the Dutch, and newly independent India herself actively supported the Indonesian struggle.

And many of you as students of history will recall it was both Australia and India that worked together to play an instrumental role to bringing that struggle to the UN Security Council which led to the establishment of a ceasefire, and eventually Indonesian independence. 

And today, our nations have the opportunity to continue that collaboration and commitment to a stable, prosperous and resilient Indo-Pacific.

Australia, India and Indonesia have common interests and responsibilities to ensure stability in the Indo-Pacific and to manage any uncertainty and change.

We are all nations of the Indian Ocean, the globe’s busiest and most strategically significant corridor; host to a third of the world's bulk cargo traffic and two-thirds of global oil shipments.

Our shared trade routes in the Indian Ocean and our maritime relationships bind our common economic goals.

It is a fact that the foundations of military balance in the Indo Pacific, and indeed across the Indian Ocean, are shifting.

We see intensified strategic competition as regional powers seek greater access and influence.

Australia, India and Indonesia, like all Indian Ocean countries face an unprecedented range of wider challenges, including climate change, transnational crime such as human trafficking, and terrorism.

In this context, trilateral security cooperation is essential to protect our shared interests in the Indian Ocean and the Indo-Pacific.

Our trilateral cooperation can be an important element of India’s Act East and SAGAR policies, and can support Indonesia’s leadership in Southeast Asia and IORA.

Our three countries share a common vision of a secure, stable, peaceful and prosperous region, a region in which sovereignty and territorial integrity is respected and our ability to trade with each other is protected by rules and norms, and a region in which no country dominates and no country is dominated.

I particularly commend both India and Indonesia for resolving maritime boundary disputes with their neighbours, Bangladesh and Malaysia respectively, through a rules-based framework, resolutions that were reached peacefully and in respect of the agreed international rules and norms.

Both instances are brilliant examples that demonstrate responsible Indian and Indonesian leadership. 

These actions uphold a rules-based order. Both these actions represent a respectful approach that underpins practical maritime activities between our three countries.

In 2023, in the Albanese Government’s first term, we conducted our first trilateral maritime activity – a joint sail north of Bali – with India and Indonesia.

In our second term, the Albanese Government will continue to look for new ways to advance our trilateral cooperation in the pursuit of our shared interests. 

And we will continue to listen to both India and Indonesia, to draw on the deep wells of wisdom and experience of both nations for ideas and guidance on how to address our shared challenges.

We can learn from our cooperation with India and Indonesia, two great maritime nations.

I still think Australia has a lot we can offer. 

We have the largest search and rescue zone in the Indian Ocean and have one of the largest Indian Ocean coastlines. 

Our navies are increasingly complementary, with growing potential for interoperability.

Trilaterally, our maritime domain awareness cooperation would allow unrivalled coverage of the Indian Ocean, to enable a truly shared picture of our maritime neighbourhood.

By working together, our defence cooperation can expand each other’s autonomy, options, and capabilities.

It offers the potential to elevate and scale existing cooperation under our three respective bilaterals into an additional trilateral effort, to deliver the greatest effect to Indian Ocean safety, security, and prosperity.

The prospects for trilateral cooperation are strong, as our three countries share a commitment to turn potential into progress, partnership into mutual benefit, shared goals into stability, security, peace and prosperity for our people. 

Civil society has an important part to play in driving forward greater cooperation with our international partners.

Entities like the Australia India Institute play a key role in contributing to the public debate by exploring the challenges facing Australia and our region and advancing public understanding of strategic policy

This Dialogue has the potential to shape the future of Australia’s approach to trilateral engagement, providing insights and identifying opportunities, as well as exploring the challenges to cooperation.

Our three countries have a huge impact on the region.

Australia – a young middle power grafted onto an ancient continent with the oldest continuing culture, surrounded by the Pacific and Indian oceans on either side.

India as the great power of the Indian Ocean.

Indonesia as leader of South East Asia.

Two great anchors of stability in the Indo-Pacific in the 21^st century.

The depth and quality of our trilateral cooperation will have huge impact on stability that we can engender for the Indo-Pacific in the 21^st century.

I wish you well for the discussion, and look forward to working with the Australia India Institute in the future. 

Thank you.