Centre For Asian-Australian Leadership inaugural annual lecture

[Acknowledgments omitted]

I am particularly pleased to be here at the Centre for Asian-Australian Leadership – the first centre of its kind, dedicated to addressing the underrepresentation of Asian Australians in leadership positions.

I want to thank the Centre for inviting me to give this inaugural lecture.

We are here tonight to talk about Asian-Australians: the leadership role we play, the change we seek and the contribution we make to securing a better place for Australia in the world.

I also want to address some related matters, including the perennial task of improving Asia capability in Australia.

And I have been asked to speak about my personal experience – which I am always reticent to do. But for you I’ll make some exceptions.

Before I get to those points, I want to reflect further on one Australian who has been so central to connecting Australia with Asia, and advancing Australia’s interests in Asia.

That person is Gareth Evans.

Gareth is the longest serving Labor foreign minister.

But true to the standard of being a Labor foreign minister, Gareth never merely “served”, never simply occupied the office.

He drove one of the most active foreign policy agendas this country has seen.

He carried forward the Labor tradition of innovating and reimagining Australia’s foreign policy of alliance, region and rules for the times.

Most notably of all, he did this by deepening our influence in Southeast Asia and working in the multilateral system to strengthen the international rules-based order.

His work on disarmament and weapons non-proliferation was prolific.

Take chemical weapons, for example. Negotiations for a treaty to ban the production and use of chemical weapons had been dragging for seven years, when Gareth corralled foreign ministers into a political breakthrough, leveraging Australia’s status as a constructive middle power.

The Chemical Weapons Convention remains one of Australia’s greatest multilateral achievements.

And his activism in Southeast Asia transformed the way Australia was seen in the region – most of all through the dogged, creative diplomacy, often alongside Indonesia, that led to the Paris peace agreements on Cambodia.

Allan Gyngell described it as “Australia’s most significant contribution to solving a regional problem” since Indonesian independence.

Our role helping overcome years of local tragedy and regional instability – and our support for the UN Transitional Authority in Cambodia - are still spoken of in the highest terms – by the Cambodian government, by opposition groups, by citizens and civil society and so many others across our region and the world.

These two case studies tells us a lot about Gareth.

He never bought into assumptions about Australia’s limits; never accepted any inherent constraint on the potential for Australian influence in our region and around the world.

He always pushed the boundaries of what was possible for Australian diplomacy, always looking to shape the times rather than be shaped by them.

The world saw terrible conflicts and atrocities in those years. But the times were also defined by the end of the Cold War, and the opportunity and realignment that followed.

Today’s world is defined by altogether less optimistic trends and dynamics - the confluence of great power competition, multiple devastating conflicts, rising authoritarianism, worsening climate change and the growing intersection of security and economics.

I’m not here to talk about those dynamics – which I discussed in detail in another ANU forum recently, at the National Security College conference.

But these circumstances mean that to assure Australia’s position we need at least as much ambition as was marshalled by Gareth and his colleagues.

These circumstances mean we need all arms of national power, all tools of statecraft, deployed to advance our national interests.

We have to be smarter about how we advance our interests, in peace, stability and prosperity.

We have to be more strategic in how we ensure our region enjoys a balance where small and medium countries aren't dominated by major powers, and where we can all decide our own destinies.

We have to more effective – more capable – in our region.

Which brings me to all of you – and to the Centre for Asian-Australian Leadership.

Asian-Australians – particularly of my generation – will be all too familiar with the narrative of immigrant as burden, as peril.

A drain on resources, a threat to cohesion. We saw it from Mr Howard in the 1980s, when he called for a reduction in Asian immigration. I will never forget the toll that took on my family.

We see again it from Mr Dutton today. We know where these words land. We know what communities hear when the Opposition deliberately revives this divisive rhetoric.

I have said many times that politicians have a responsibility to take care with their words. To not just seize a political opportunity but consider the implications of their words and actions.

This fearmongering is damaging in our community and it is a lost opportunity for Australia – to be more unified, to avoid reproducing other conflicts here.

I have always seen it differently.

As Foreign Minister I have been telling a different story to Australia and the world.

The world is big, it is complex and it is interconnected. We cannot deliver Australia’s interests purely engaging among or through traditional partners.

We must invest in our own deep and direct relationships throughout our region and beyond.

Like any engagement, it is more effective if we meet countries where they are, to build alignment between who we are and what we want.

And we have a huge advantage in that task - quite simply because of who we are.

A modern, multicultural nation, home to the oldest continuing civilisation in the world.

And more than 300 ancestries, reflecting every corner of our world.

Half of us born overseas, or with a parent born overseas – including me. Including many of you.

1.1 million Australians who claim ancestry from Southeast Asia.

1.4 million Australians who claim ancestry from South Asia.

And 1.6 million Australians who claim ancestry from North Asia.

I’ve been to more than a few countries, and I can’t think of any other country that matches our inherent ability to find common ground with the world’s peoples.

Our challenge is to take this ability and make it central to how we engage with the world.

This isn’t a radical or particularly new concept, that our diaspora populations support our ties with other countries.

But the relative importance of it for Australia is much greater. As is the extent to which it is a national asset.

Because of the world we live in. Because of the region where our future lies.

I don’t like to give speeches about myself, but given where we are, I will draw on my own experience to illustrate this point.

It would have been unimaginable to me, when I first came to this country, that I would one day be Australia’s foreign minister or government leader in the Senate.

Such an idea would have been as fantastic as fiction.

Nothing in those early years as an Asian kid in Adelaide – whose parents were married while the White Australia Policy was still in place…

Nothing in those early years suggested this was a possibility.

The experiences of prejudice and racism that will be too familiar to many of you.

There are many ways people respond to those kinds of experiences.

I chose to work for change. And seeking election was a part of that choice.

To fully realise my agency.

To try to be in the rooms where decisions were made, to try to shape those decisions for the better.

To be part of a political movement for a respectful, modern Australia – to be part of writing a story that includes all of us.

But making that choice was one thing. Following it through has been much harder.

I remember how it felt in my early career.

I wouldn’t say it was intimidating. Being intimidated doesn’t come easily to me.

But certainly it felt daunting, to so often be the first. Because what’s implicit in being the first is being the only. And for a long time that was the case.

My first few years in the Senate were shared with Tsebin Tchen, until the Liberal Party didn’t preselect him for a second term.

There were times when it felt like the only other Asian faces I would see in Parliament House were the cleaners and a woman who worked in the library.

And when you encountered others who were different you would share a knowing, unspoken acknowledgement.

So I suppose it was natural for me to wonder at times if I had made the right choice.

Questioning whether I had made the right choice was always answered by my conviction that we need to have genuine diversity in our institutions.

That to represent the community, you must reflect the community.

And that a democratic country needs to be able to see itself in its leaders.

So throughout that time of being first and only, I was determined to not remain so.

And I was conscious of the responsibility I carried, and I still carry, in making space for the second, and the third, and more.

Not just in terms of encouraging and mentoring, and urging colleagues through the Party to have a less narrow preselection pool.

But also in terms of the pressure not to stuff it up. I’m sure many of you will relate to that pressure.

I always knew that there were mistakes some politicians could take in their stride. These were not the kind of mistakes that I could get away with.

Yet the upshot of trying not to make mistakes was that I was often criticised as robotic, wooden, cold.

And those same critics would certainly have pounced on any misstep to question my competence – especially while I was simultaneously leading the fiendishly high-stakes and complex reforms of emissions trading, a mandated renewable energy target and in the Murray-Darling Basin.

It took some time for those judgements to mellow.

Even the best of countries is always a work in progress, and Australia has changed dramatically over the course of my life and career.

I am deeply gratified by the trend we see today, including more second-generation Asian-Australians entering politics. The entire space has changed; grassroots, staff, backbench, ministry.

We likewise see more representation across business, institutions, communities.

We have come a long way – as I now have the privilege of serving in the most diverse Parliament in Australian history. To be serving in the most diverse government in Australian history.

I think of hearing the first speeches of my colleagues Sally Sitou, Sam Lim, Zaneta Mascarenhas, Cassandra Fernando, Michelle Ananda-Rajah and Varun Ghosh - and think about how long we had waited to hear their voices.

I think about serving in a government with colleagues of different faiths – Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish and Muslim. With the first Muslim woman minister, Dr Anne Aly, and first Muslim Cabinet Minister, Ed Husic.

And the hope that with them as well, we are making space for the second, and the third.

The youngest generation of Australians – my children and their peers – they too give me hope.

Their approach, and their experience, are so different from my own.

It gives me hope that in the not too distant future, we will see more Asian-Australians become cabinet ministers and leaders and it will be entirely unremarkable.

At this inaugural lecture for the Centre for Asian-Australian Leadership let me assert my hope that Asian-Australian leaders will be as part of the landscape as leaders from any other ethnic background.

So maybe we won’t even need a Centre for Asian-Australian Leadership!

Yet there is still much more to be done, including as Gareth referenced in his introduction.

I would normally leave this to the commentators, but given why I was invited to speak here this evening I should simply note that it is beyond doubt that having an Asian-Australian foreign minister sends a clear message to the region about modern Australia.

And it renders as nonsense narratives pushed by others, that have cast Australia as intolerant and unwelcoming – narratives that have sometimes resonated, and can harm our interests in a contested region.

That doesn’t mean that every foreign minister from now on has to be Asian-Australian.

It simply means that if we want the world to understand who we are and what we stand for, we have to project overall who we are and what we stand for.

Overall – meaning across government, business, academia and culture.

It means there is power our diasporas; in Asian-Australian diasporas, because Australia needs you.

We need your perspectives and insights; your cultural understanding. We need your connections. We need your language skills.

Which brings me to a major challenge Australia faces.

There are around 700,000 Mandarin speakers in Australia, and hundreds of thousands of Cantonese speakers.

These are impressive numbers. But there is a cautionary footnote.

Experts have said that the number of those Mandarin-speaking Australians who do not have Chinese origins would be in the low hundreds.

The number of university students studying an Asian language fell 30 per cent in Australia in the decade to 2022.

The decline in Indonesian language study is particularly concerning.

There are now fewer people studying Indonesian in Australia than there were under Whitlam 50 years ago - despite our population today having doubled.

In Australian high schools, twice as many students study German in Year 12 as Indonesian.

And five times as many students study French.

While successive Labor governments have acknowledged this reality and sought to change it, it’s not a priority that’s been consistently shared by Liberal-National governments – which explains the lack of steady progress over time.

Yet we know Australia’s interests demand we engage in the region more consistently and more deeply.

Building on the work of Labor Government initiatives such as Prime Minister Rudd’s Australia-Asia Awards and Prime Minister Gillard’s AsiaBound program, the New Colombo Plan has helped thousands of Australian students undertake study, language training and internships in our region.

A decade on from the establishment of the program, it’s time to reflect on how we can ensure the program continues to build on the good work Julie Bishop did to establish the program.

We want NCP participants to bring back not just lasting memories, but new skills and capabilities that will broaden our national understanding of our region.

We want more students to spend more time in the region; we want more students to learn languages; and we want to ensure that short-term programs deliver real benefits for students.

That's why today I'm announcing three reforms of the New Colombo Plan beginning in 2025 to ensure the program supports our strategic objectives and lifts the capability of our people.

First, we will remove the cap and aim to double the number of long-term scholarships available to universities, and introduce a stronger focus on language learning.

Second, we will create a new language stream to provide an avenue for students to deepen their language skills through intensive short courses and longer-term immersive programs.

Third, we will retain short-term mobility grants for students, but ensure these better utilise institutional links between universities and deliver tangible benefits for students – and we will increase the minimum duration of short-term mobility courses from two to four weeks.

These changes won’t solve our Asia literacy challenge on their own - they are just one piece of the puzzle, one step in the process, and one signal to the education sector.

Programs like those run by the Australian Consortium for In-Country Indonesian Studies (ACICIS) have played an important role over many decades in building Indonesia capability – we are also now, with NCP reforms, investing in growing capability in Asian languages.

And I have asked one of our best thinkers in this space, the Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs, Tim Watts, to chair an External Advisory Group to consult the sector and other experts on how to ensure the next phase of the New Colombo Plan is fit for purpose and builds the capability of our people.

We need to increase training of teachers in Asian languages, as Education Minister Jason Clare is doing.

We need to increase our collaboration with the university sector and industry to make Asian languages a more attractive offering for students.

And we need business to join with us, to better harness the capability of our graduates and workforce.

To show graduates that these skills and capabilities are valued.

All this is just the beginning of what we need to do if Australia is to rise to its challenges in our region.

We have announced over $100 million in projects to invest more broadly in Australia’s Asia capability, including in partnership with Asialink, universities including ANU, the Asia Society, the Australia-Indonesia Institute, the National Foundation for Australia-China Relations, the Centre for Australia-India Relations, and the Australia Vietnam Policy Institute.

And we have created the ASEAN-Australia Centre - a new institution designed to deepen Southeast Asia literacy, increase economic ties, improve educational links, and expand cultural connections.

But government can’t be the only driver of Australia’s Asia engagement and capability investment. We need to see much more from the private sector.

Consider that in 2022, Southeast Asia's combined nominal GDP was around A$5.2 trillion—larger than the economies of the United Kingdom, France or Canada.

Indonesia alone is projected to be the world's fifth-largest economy by 2040.

But the reality is that Australia's trade and investment with the region has not kept pace with the growth of Southeast Asian economies.

While Southeast Asia has grown rapidly, when we came to government, Australian direct investment in Southeast Asia was lower than it was in 2014.

We need to turn this around. That's why we appointed Nicholas Moore AO as Australia's Special Envoy to Southeast Asia, and charged him with developing a Southeast Asia Economic Strategy to 2040.

The Albanese Government has delivered a number of measures in response to the Strategy, including a $2 billion investment financing facility to boost Australian investment in Southeast Asia - particularly in clean energy transition and infrastructure development.

Specialist deal teams are being established in Jakarta, Singapore and Ho Chi Minh City to work with investors; ten senior Australian Business Champions have been appointed to ensure Government and the private sector work in tandem; and we're helping more Australian businesses engage in the region through a new Southeast Asia Business Exchange.

We are also improving visa access for businesspeople from Southeast Asia.

We do all this because we live in the most competitive region in the world. This offers us enormous opportunity – and equally large exposures if we fail to seize it.

Our Government's initiatives are designed to make it easier for Australian business to get established in new markets.

Smart business will take the opportunities created by the Strategy. Smart businesses will do more business in Southeast Asia. And smart businesses will see the advantage in Australia’s Asian diasporas.

Greater economic engagement with Southeast Asia and across the region helps build alignment – helps foster a dynamic that reassures the region of our intentions for peace and prosperity.

It’s one of the ways we deter conflict and contribute to the stability of our region. It’s one of the arms of national power I referenced at the outset.

Because our country sits between the Indian and Pacific Oceans; our links to the world shaped by the contours of Southeast Asia.

We are bound not just by shared geography but by the shared destiny of our interests.

What happens in, to and through this region will be central to Australia’s future.

Our ability to optimise Australia’s position demands unprecedented coordination of statecraft, and most of all relies on our people.

It relies on maintaining our cohesion as a people, not letting reckless politicians divide us for their own gain.

It relies on the contribution of all Australians, of all diasporas, working together.

It relies on unity, not division. Respect not vilification.

It relies on us all recognising each other’s value.

All of us knowing the whole is greater than the sum of our parts.

In this way we build the country we need today, and the country we want for our children.

Thank you.