State Lunch in honour of His Excellency Mr Joko Widodo, President of the Republic of Indonesia, Government House

[The Governor-General delivered this speech in bahasa Indonesia. The English version appears below]

I acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which we meet, the Ngunnawal People, and pay my respects to their elders, past and present, emerging leaders and all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders gathered here today.

Your Excellency, I am pleased to welcome you back to Australia following your visit for the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit in March 2018, particularly as we mark the 70th anniversary of formal diplomatic relations between our two countries.

Indonesia is — and always will be — one of Australia’s most important strategic partners. But we are much more than this — we are also friends and neighbours.

As neighbours in a dynamic region, we embrace opportunities together and we work together to face common challenges.

We are deeply grateful for Indonesia’s assistance in responding to Australia’s bushfires, including by sending more than 30 military engineers to contribute to Operation Bushfire Assist. In our hour of need, your country helped our country — that’s a sign of a true friendship.

Our mutual success matters and we recognise fully Indonesia’s importance as the world’s third largest democracy, fourth most populous nation and home to the largest Muslim population in the world.

As close neighbours, and with greater connectivity than ever before, our security interests can’t be separated. We face these risks together, including through our close and effective cooperation against terrorism.

Our Defence relationship is strong and mature, and makes an important contribution to regional security. Our commitment to working towards a peacekeeping co-deployment will only serve to deepen these bonds.

Broadening and deepening the economic relationship between our two countries is a high priority for Australia, and the IA-CEPA will invigorate our growing trade and investment relationship across a broad range of sectors. I welcome its ratification.

To help address your priority of building human capital, IA-CEPA will provide opportunities for skills exchanges, training to help upskill Indonesia's workforce and help increase the number of Australian work and holiday visas available to young Indonesians. It will also help attract foreign investment in sectors like education and training, tourism, health and aged care services, energy and construction.

There is considerable goodwill between communities in our countries. This is reflected in the more than 1.3 million Australians who visit Indonesia each year and the growing number of Indonesians visiting Australia. 

Education has an important role to play in this. Australia hosts about 20,000 Indonesian students enrolled each year in Australian universities and technical colleges.

The Australian Government’s New Colombo Plan has ensured that thousands of Australian students have been able to learn more about Indonesia – in fact, Indonesia is the most popular destination for Australian students. Since 2014, 9,500 Australian students have gone to live, study and undertake work experience in Indonesia.

Our Australia Awards Scholarships have for decades helped deliver educational dividends for Indonesia's future leaders as well as valuable people-to-people links.

We also have a longstanding development partnership that supports Indonesia’s efforts to grow its economy, tackle inequality, promote tolerance and pluralism, and foster a more stable and prosperous region.

I am sure your current visit will further strengthen relationships between our governments, economies and people. I wish you the best for the remainder of your time here.

Bapak Presiden, itu yang terbaik yang bias saya lakukan [Bapak President, that's the best I can do!]

[Ends]