Australia is to spend $15 million over four years to “enhance maritime cooperation” with Indonesia, including an annual official-level dialogue on maritime issues.
What that means is both nations will be working more closely together to maintain stability in the Indo-Pacific in the face of increased aggression from the CCP and reported interest from Russia to base military aircraft in Indonesia’s easternmost province.
Although Indonesian officials denied an approach to base the Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS) aircraft at Manuhua Air Force Base, the report did originate from respected military journal Janes, which stood by its story, saying it had seen the documents sent to the office of Minister of Defence Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin.
Sjamsoeddin had met with the Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Sergei Shoigu in February 2025.
When Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese landed in Indonesia on his first overseas visit since being appointed for his second term only days earlier, cementing the relationship established under the Australia–Indonesia Defence Cooperation Agreement, signed last year, would have been at the top of his agenda.
He appears to have made progress, with the Indonesian military set to begin training in the Northern Territory later this year.
Indonesia is already the fourth-largest nation in the world by population. And it’s projected to be the fifth-largest economy in the world by the end of the next decade. Maintaining favour with a country 10 times the size of Australia in terms of population does come at a cost.
Australia is to spend $100 million on strengthening Indonesia’s health system, $3.5 million on anti-malaria drugs for the Indonesian military, and $50 million on the Fund for Green Infrastructure to “incentivise investment in green infrastructure and clean energy projects in Indonesia.”
In addition, Albanese agreed to support the bid by Indonesia’s sovereign wealth fund, called Danantara, to join the International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds and invited it to conduct a roadshow in Australia.
Ten scholarships would also be offered for Indonesian students to study for a Master’s of Education in Australia, and the number of participating scholars and institutions under Australia’s Indonesian Language Learning Ambassadors program will be doubled.
Australia will also continue to support Indonesia’s application to join the OECD and the CPTPP (the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership).
“Australia and Indonesia are indispensable partners,” Albanese said after his bilateral meeting with Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto. “We’re working together as neighbours and as partners committed to a secure, stable, and prosperous Indo-Pacific.
“Our two great nations continue to invest in each other through our strong trade relationship, creating economic opportunity and deepening the bonds between us.”
The Defence Cooperation Agreement represented “the most significant step in the Australia and Indonesia security partnership for three decades,” he said, adding, “I do not see this agreement as the last step. I want us to aim higher, go further and work even more closely together.”
Asked at a doorstop in Jakarta earlier in the day about the Russian request to base long-range bombers in West Papua, Albanese appeared to confirm that Australia believed the story, saying, “Indonesia’s answer is no. They have made that very clear.”
However, he wouldn’t be drawn on whether Prabowo had told him exactly what Russia had asked for, saying it was not for him to comment on “what occurs between nations that are not Australia.”
The prime minister said Australia would continue building its defence and security arrangements with countries like Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, and other countries in the region.
“Now, Russia, of course, will try to increase its influence,” he said. “We make very clear our position when it comes to Russia around the world, be it the brutal invasion of Ukraine, its interference in cybersecurity issues, its tolerance of criminal organisations that ... are an anathema to our values.”
In their joint communique, both leaders reiterated that Australia and Indonesia support “an ASEAN-centred, open, inclusive, transparent, resilient, and rules-based regional architecture that upholds international law.”
They called on the military and security forces in Burma (also called Myanmar) to immediately stop targeting civilians and to cease all violence so that humanitarian assistance can reach people affected by the recent earthquake.
And they reaffirmed both countries’ support for a two-state solution to the Hamas-Israel conflict, calling for the immediate resumption of a ceasefire and the release of all remaining hostages, and for an end to the war in Ukraine that would uphold “territorial integrity.”
