Month: March 2024

oday I announce the appointment of highly qualified individuals to lead Australian diplomatic posts in Germany and the Federated States of Micronesia and to lead Australian representation to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC).

Our diplomats work for Australia by creating and driving opportunities for closer cooperation, supporting Australians overseas and prosecuting our national interests around the world.

I am pleased to announce the following appointments:

• Ms Natasha Smith as Australia’s next Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Germany.
• Ms Jenny Grant-Curnow as Australia’s next Ambassador to the Federated States of Micronesia.
• Ms Elizabeth Ward as Australia’s next Ambassador for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC).

I thank the outgoing Ambassadors for their contributions to advancing Australia’s interests.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Timor-Leste have reaffirmed their commitment to securing peace, stability, prosperity and a sustainable future for the region.

Prime Minister Albanese hosted the leaders of the Lao PDR, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and Timor-Leste in Melbourne at the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit.

Themed “A Partnership for the Future”, the Summit marked 50 years since Australia became ASEAN’s first Dialogue Partner.

Leaders committed to working together to address shared challenges while embracing opportunities that will benefit all who live in our region.

Prime Minister Albanese and ASEAN Leaders adopted the ASEAN-Australia Joint Leaders’ Vision Statement and the Melbourne Declaration which set out the next 50 years of our enduring partnership to promote an open, inclusive and transparent region with ASEAN at the centre.

Leaders set out their shared aspirations for the region’s future, committing to work together to contribute to the maintenance of peace and stability, as well as enhance cooperation for sustainable development and prosperity in the region. They identified areas of practical cooperation for the future, ranging from deepening economic and socio-cultural ties to strengthening educational and environmental cooperation. These outcomes reinforce Australia’s commitment to Southeast Asia and ASEAN – now, and into the future.

In line with Australia’s deep and enduring ties with ASEAN and the priority the Government places on building stronger partnerships with Southeast Asia, today Prime Minister Albanese announced:

• Establishing an ASEAN-Australia Centre in Canberra. Commencing on 1 July 2024, the Centre will be a focal point for engagement with ASEAN and promote greater Southeast Asia cultural literacy in Australia. The Centre will focus on strengthening business, education, cultural and community connections between Australia, ASEAN Member States and Timor-Leste.
• More than 75 new Aus4ASEAN scholarships, some of which will be co-funded by Australian universities, and 55 fellowships for emerging leaders from the region to have a world-class Australian education.
• An Energy Cooperation Package under the Aus4ASEAN Futures Initiative to enhance ASEAN-led regional energy policy and planning, including implementation of the ASEAN Strategy for Carbon Neutrality. The package will support the ASEAN Centre for Energy and the establishment of an ASEAN Centre for Climate Change in Brunei Darussalam.
• Providing English language training for Timor-Leste to support its path to full ASEAN membership. The package will enable valuable training to help Timor-Leste engage effectively in ASEAN.

During the Special Summit, the Prime Minister reiterated Australia’s commitment to deepening two-way trade and investment with ASEAN to drive growth that creates jobs and realises economic benefits for all people in the region. The Albanese Government announced a number of initiatives to implement key recommendations from Invested: Southeast Asia Economic Strategy to 2040, launched last year:

• Establishing a $2 billion Southeast Asia Investment Financing Facility to catalyse Australian investment in the region in key sectors such as infrastructure and the clean energy transition;
• Extending Australia’s Partnerships for Infrastructure initiative that supports efforts to improve regional infrastructure development and attract more diverse, quality infrastructure finance;
• Appointing 10 Business Champions to facilitate greater commercial links between Australia and the economies of ASEAN, ensuring Government and the private sector work in tandem to boost our two-way trade and investment;
• Establishing new regional ‘Landing Pads’ in Jakarta and Ho Chi Minh City to bolster Australian technology exports and support the region’s digital transformation;
• Improving visa access for Southeast Asia, with the extension of the Business Visitor Visa from three to five years, and the introduction of the Frequent Traveller stream, providing 10 year visas for eligible ASEAN Member States. This sends a clear signal that Australia is open for business;
• Announcing the location of regional hubs for Investment Deal Teams in Singapore, Jakarta and Ho Chi Minh City; and
• The first business mission under the Australia-Southeast Asia Business Exchange to Singapore and Malaysia in April focusing on green energy transition.

The Albanese Government also announced the extension of initiatives to support the clean energy transition and practical maritime cooperation, including:

• Implementing the next phase of the Mekong-Australia Partnership to deepen Australia’s engagement in the Mekong subregion to address shared challenges, including water security, climate change and transnational crime.
• $64 million to enhance Australia’s Southeast Asia Maritime Partnerships. This will expand Australia’s maritime cooperation with regional partners and contribute to the security and prosperity of the region, consistent with the priorities of Southeast Asian countries.
• A $10 million specific Climate and Clean Energy Window as part of the Southeast Asia Government-to-Government Partnerships Fund announced in 2023. This will facilitate knowledge sharing and capacity building in addressing climate change.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said:

“It has been an honour to host leaders from ASEAN and Timor-Leste in Melbourne as we mark 50 years of partnership between ASEAN and Australia.

“ASEAN binds our region together and I can say with confidence that our partnership has never been stronger or more consequential to our mutual prosperity and to the stability of the region we call home.

“Australia is committed to being an exemplary partner to the countries of Southeast Asia – we will continue to be constructive, and to engage with respect, honesty and trust, and, importantly, to listen.

“ASEAN and Australia’s economies are deeply intertwined. We want to play a bigger role in Southeast Asia’s pursuit of economic opportunity, development, and growth.

“My Government has made serious, sustained and consistent international engagement a priority – working together with our friends and partners to shape the future we want to see.”

Ten years on from the disappearance of Malaysian Airlines flight 370, the Australian Government’s sincere sympathies remain with the loved ones of the 239 passengers and crew on board, including seven people who called Australia home.

Despite coordinated efforts to locate the missing plane over the last decade, those who lost loved ones have not had the answers they seek. We recognise their ongoing heartache and grief.

Today, we also acknowledge the significant contributions made to support the Malaysian Government in the search for MH370 over many years. 

Australia coordinated what was one of the biggest search operations of its kind in history when the aircraft disappeared, searching over 3 million square kilometres above the water and more than 120,000 square kilometres under the water, sadly without locating the missing aircraft.

We thank all of those who assisted in these efforts, including the Australian Defence Force, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, the Defence Science and Technology Group, Geoscience Australia, and the CSIRO.

The Australian Government is supportive of all practical efforts to find MH370. Australia stands ready to assist the Malaysian Government if it considers that Australian agencies are able to offer technical information as a result of their involvement in previous searches.

In 2021 as part of his election platform Anthony Albanese pledged to deliver 500 new frontline community domestic violence workers, saying:

“Coalition governments have failed to take this task seriously. Not enough workers are funded. It’s past time to stop just talking about it – and elevate women’s safety to a national priority.”

Labor funded the 500 community workers measure in the October 2022 Budget promising to have 200 new workers on the ground in 2022-23. None were delivered in that year.

Today the Opposition can reveal that just two workers out of the 500 promised are on the ground delivering domestic violence support services 16 months on from that funding being allocated and almost two years into the Albanese Government’s term.

Anthony Albanese has delivered just one domestic violence worker in South Australia and one domestic violence worker in the Northern Territory.

Two of the 500 promised domestic violence workers is totally unacceptable.

This shocking revelation was unearthed by questioning at Senate Estimates by the Shadow Minister for Child Protection and the Prevention of Family Violence, Kerrynne Liddle.

This also brings into question statements made by the Prime Minister in the House on this matter. When asked about Labor’s performance in reducing domestic violence in Question Time on 27 November 2023 he responded:

“My government is taking immediate and practical action…We’ve delivered on our commitment of new frontline and community sector workers to support victims-survivors.”

Given that at most only two of 500 promised domestic violence workers could have been on the ground when he made that statement, the answer was misleading and should be corrected.

The Deputy Leader and Shadow Minister for Women, Sussan Ley, called on Anthony Albanese to stand up and accept responsibility for failing to meet his commitment to deliver 500 new domestic violence workers and pledge to fix it.

“Today of all days we have to confront the reality that domestic violence is a crisis across Australia, over a dozen women have been killed already this year, most by domestic violence,” she said.

“I cannot express the depth of my disappointment that only two of the promised 500 domestic violence workers are in place, more than 650 days on since Labor was elected.

“Women’s safety is a critical precondition for gender equality and the women of Australia deserve accountability from the Government on this.”

Shadow Minister for Child Protection and Prevention of Family Violence, Senator Kerrynne Liddle, said the rollout of critical frontline service workers had been appalling, and amounted to another broken promise from the Albanese Government.

“There is no excuse for violence but the factors that coincide with spikes are known, such as poverty, stress and substance misuse and gendered power in relationships; the Albanese Government’s go slow here is truly unwarranted and disturbing,” the Senator for South Australia said.

“I have spent months seeking the truth only to find that just two of the 500 promised frontline workers have been employed on the frontline to assist the desperate family, domestic and sexual violence sector.

“This is a disgrace given that we lost more than 50 women to intimate partner violence in 2023 and already 11 women have been killed in family violence incidents in just two months this year.”

These revelations come as the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, Sussan Ley, sounds the alarm over an anticipated spike of domestic violence incidents over coming weeks as Australians face the stress of bills built up over the holiday period and the increasing impact of the cost of living crisis.

Data compiled by the Parliamentary Library from Victoria Police, the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, and the Australian Bureau of Statistics demonstrates Australia has an annual spike of domestic violence in March. It is well understood there is a spike of violence in December and January over the holidays but this data demonstrates that March is another month that sees a spike in domestic violence in Australia.

According to the analysis from the Parliamentary Library, March is a period when the financial effects built up over the Christmas holidays are felt and this trend can be seen in the spike of domestic violence reporting over a number of years.

There are grave concerns, given the economic strain across Australia, that domestic violence will likely increase again in coming weeks. In 2023, across Victoria and New South Wales, there was an almost 7 per cent increase over March with more than 1,000 additional incidents reported. Given this is just two states and that most incidents go unreported, the numbers are certainly much higher.