Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says that Indonesia will be the destination of his first overseas trip following his decisive re-election this week.
In an interview with the ABC, Albanese said he would meet with President Prabowo Subianto on May 14, a day after his new government is sworn in, the Associated Press reported. He described the visit as a “signal” of the importance his government places on Southeast Asia and the wider region.
“We have no more important relationship than Indonesia,” Albanese said. “We have an important economic relationship with them. They will grow to be the fourth largest economy in the world. We have an important defense and security relationship with them as well.”
The state visit to Indonesia will be Albanese’s first overseas since his election victory on May 3, which saw the Australian Labor Party secure one of its largest majorities in recent memory, clinching at least 89 seats in the 150-seat House of Representatives. Albanese will then reportedly attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur on May 26-27. He has also accepted an invitation from newly re-elected Canadian Prime Minister Marc Carney to attend the G-7 leaders’ summit in Alberta next month, where he could have an in-person meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump.
The decision is in line with a recent bipartisan custom for newly elected Australian leaders. Indonesia was the destination of Albanese’s first bilateral visit during his first term in office; he then went on to visit Indonesia twice more: for the G-20 Summit in November 2022 and the ASEAN Summit in September 2023. Indonesia was also the destination of the first state visit for Prime Ministers Scott Morrison (in 2018), Malcolm Turnbull (in 2015), Tony Abbott (in 2013), and Kevin Rudd (in 2007).
Albanese’s election rival, Peter Dutton, the leader of the Liberal-National Coalition, had proposed breaking with this tradition by making his first overseas trip to the United States to strike a better tariff deal with President Trump. Labor’s Julia Gillard also diverged from this practice, making her first overseas trip to Afghanistan.
This tradition on the part of Australian leaders represents a symbolic commitment to the bilateral relationship, but one that has often not been matched by its substance. Indonesia-Australia ties have frequently frayed over various disagreements on issues including human rights, the Israel-Palestine conflict, Australian prisoners in Indonesia, and, in more recent years, the AUKUS partnership.
That said, over the past decade, the two nations have passed some significant milestones. Under Scott Morrison, who was in office from 2018 to 2022, the two countries signed a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and the Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, which created “a framework for Australia and Indonesia to unlock the vast potential of the bilateral economic partnership.” As a result, trade between the two nations has increased significantly, from $18.1 billion in FY 2021-22 to $32.22 billion in FY 2023-24, pushing Indonesia up from Australia’s 14th-largest trade partner to its 11th.
Under Albanese, this has been matched by progress in defense. Last August, during a state visit by Prabowo to Australia, the two nations signed a new defense cooperation agreement that Albanese described as “historic.” The agreement includes provisions for joint military exercises and – most importantly – reciprocal access by the Australian and Indonesian militaries to each other’s countries, which will help facilitate more substantial security cooperation.
In 2023, Australia took part for the first time in Indonesia’s Super Garuda Shield joint military exercises, alongside the United States, Japan, Singapore, France, and the United Kingdom. Then, in 2024, the Royal Australian Air Force and the Indonesian Air Force conducted joint maritime surveillance exercises in Bali and an air combat training mission in North Sulawesi.
Albanese’s trip is clearly intended to consolidate these recent advances in bilateral ties in a context of growing international instability and uncertainty. Natalie Sambhi, a policy expert with the Sydney-based Asia Society Australia educational institute, told the Associated Press that Albanese’s plan “is just sending that message home that Indonesia really matters to Australia and that we have to work together given our proximity as emerging middle-powers in the region.”
Again, there is some reason to believe that the relationship will fall short of the rhetorical importance that Canberra places on it – but the narrowing of that gap in recent years is a welcome sign for both nations, and the region at large.