Australia-ASEAN: Sharing a region and sharing a future

Đại sứ Australia tại ASEAN Tiffany McDonald. (Nguồn: asean.org)

ASEAN has played a vital role in shaping our region since its founding in 1967. In 1974 Australia took the unprecedented step of becoming ASEAN’s first Dialogue Partner.

Australia’s then Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam, recognised that of all the regional arrangements and institutions in the region, ASEAN was ‘unquestionably the most important, the most relevant, the most natural’.

At that time, ASEAN had only five members. But fast forward just over twenty years, and Vietnam became a member of ASEAN in 1995. And now in 2025 Australia is pleased that ASEAN will welcome its 11th member, Timor Leste.

In joining ASEAN all those years ago, Vietnam served to bolster ASEAN’s importance and relevance to our region. Its membership, and ASEAN’s expansion, further brought together the countries of Southeast Asia – a region that holds the centre of the Indo-Pacific.

ASEAN in a changing world

We are living in a period of significant global transformations, with heightened tensions and global shifts. ASEAN – and its partners – are navigating challenges – new and old - but also finding opportunities to seize in our shared region – the most dynamic in the world.

Australia has always attached great importance to ASEAN and ASEAN-led regional architecture. In addition to being the first Dialogue Partner, Australia was a founding member of the ASEAN Regional Forum (1994, ARF), the East Asia Summit (2005, EAS) and ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting Plus (2010, first convened in Hanoi).

In 2021 Australia became one of the first Comprehensive Strategic Partners of ASEAN (2021), announcing the Aus4ASEAN Futures Initiative – the $204 million development cooperation program which is driving cooperation in ASEAN’s priority areas.

Australia believes we are made stronger by what we do together. This is central to our approach to ASEAN Centrality. Australia has shown its commitment to ASEAN Centrality and the unique role that ASEAN-led mechanisms play in maintaining a peaceful, stable and prosperous region.

As Foreign Minister Wong said recently in Malaysia: “ASEAN has a unique voice, by its words and its deeds, it can build norms, and it can set expectations – for powers great and small”. These expectations, norms and rules are of central importance to maintaining our region’s character.

Last month, ASEAN’s unmatched convening power was in action – bringing together Foreign Ministers from across the Indo-Pacific, including Australia’s Foreign Minister, Senator the Hon Penny Wong, for the ASEAN-Australia Post-Ministerial Conference (PMC+1), the EAS Foreign Ministers’ meeting and ARF to discuss the most pressing strategic and security issues facing our shared region.

Australia sees a united and resilient ASEAN at the forefront of maintaining peace, stability and prosperity in our region.

Overview of the Plenary Session of the Special Summit commemorating the 50th anniversary of ASEAN – Australia Dialogue Partnership, held on March 6, 2024. (Source: Nhan Dan)

Working together, working with ASEAN

Australia’s Ambassador to Vietnam, H.E. Gillian Bird, who started in the role earlier this year, served as Australia’s first Ambassador to ASEAN from 2008, and is a strong supporter of ASEAN and Vietnam’s role in this vital regional organisation.

Last year, Australia was honoured to welcome ASEAN Leaders to Melbourne, to celebrate fifty years of ASEAN-Australia dialogue relations. It was also at the Melbourne’ Summit, that Australia and Vietnam made another historic move – to elevate our strong bilateral relationship to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP).

Like the ASEAN-Australia CSP, the Australia-Vietnam CSP recognises the importance of our collective capacity to shape our region and work together to address shared challenges.

Ultimately, both relationships are about promoting a peaceful, stable and prosperous region – and bringing benefits to the people of Vietnam, ASEAN and Australia.

This year we saw ASEAN’s 2020 Hanoi Declaration, an initiative of Vietnam during its Chair year, come to fruition with the adoption of ASEAN 2045: Our Shared Future which articulates the ASEAN Community Vision 2045 for a resilient, innovative, dynamic and people-centred ASEAN. At the recent ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meetings in Kuala Lumpur, Australia and ASEAN Foreign Ministers adopted a joint statement on ASEAN and Australia’s Shared Future – the first Dialogue Partner to formally welcome ASEAN 2045: Our Shared Future with ASEAN.

Together, ASEAN and Australia committed to deepen our partnership in support of the ASEAN Community Vision 2045 and deliver lasting benefits for our people and our region. Australia reaffirmed our commitment to ASEAN Centrality, the benefits of economic integration and increasing our longstanding development assistance to support the region’s priorities.

Australia looks forward to supporting the Vision 2045’s tangible implementation as the next phase of the ASEAN-Australia partnership.

We are working with ASEAN to deliver meaningful outcomes across all three ASEAN Community Pillars and to implement the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific. We also recognise the importance of sub-regional cooperation and supporting ASEAN’s integration and community-building efforts, and are working with ASEAN in support of developing the next Initiative for ASEAN Integration Workplan. We welcome Vietnam’s steadfast leadership in the driving forward the Initiative of ASEAN Integration (IAI). In this regard, Australia also looks continuing our steadfast support for Timor-Leste on its journey towards ASEAN accession and beyond.

We know that Australia’s security, prosperity, and economic future is tied to Southeast Asia – because we share a region, and we share a future. Now, more than ever, is a time for us to work together, build collaboration and find solutions to the shared challenges which face us.

Together with Vietnam, and with ASEAN, we’ll continue to work towards a peaceful, stable and prosperous region as we build a partnership for the future. Congratulations again to Vietnam on this important milestone.

Australian Ambassador to ASEAN Tiffany McDonald with ASEAN Secretary-General Kao Kim Hourn. (Source: asean.org)

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