It’s never been more important to strengthen ASEAN-Australia Ties

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks at a joint press conference at the conclusion of the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit on March 6, 2024, in Melbourne, Australia. (AP Photo/Hamish Blair)

Australia and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) face a defining moment. Intensifying great-power competition, climate crises, and economic fragmentation are reshaping the Indo-Pacific, raising urgent questions about how the two sides can build a truly resilient partnership. As the Philippines assumes the 2026 ASEAN Chair under the theme “Navigating Our Future, Together,” Manila has prioritised Peace and Security Anchors, Prosperity Corridors, and People Empowerment—providing a timely framework for stronger Australian-ASEAN cooperation.

Australia, a dialogue partner since 1974, elevated ties to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in 2021, committing substantial resources to shared priorities. Across ASEAN capitals, Canberra is widely regarded as a trusted and dependable partner. From its early role as ASEAN’s first dialogue partner to today’s multifaceted cooperation—spanning trade, development assistance, climate initiatives, and security dialogue—Australia has consistently demonstrated reliability. This foundation of trust is critical as ASEAN navigates an increasingly contested region. 

On paper, the partnership is robust. Two-way trade reached AUD 195.7 billion in 2024-25, a jump from AUD 92 billion in 2010, due in part to the ASEAN–Australia–New Zealand Free Trade Agreement and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. Australia’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) to Southeast Asia will total AUD 1.28 billion in 2025–26—a 40-year high—representing three-quarters of its total ODA and further underscoring Canberra’s long-term commitment to the region.

Australia’s Invested: Australia’s Southeast Asia Economic Strategy to 2040 further strengthens this engagement by promoting diversification across supply chains in semiconductors, renewables, and critical minerals. In an era of trade disruption and economic fragmentation, the partnership offers clear mutual benefits: ASEAN gains access to Australian capital and expertise, while Australia reduces over-reliance on single markets and deepens engagement with one of the world’s fastest-growing regions.

Yet improving ASEAN–Australia ties has never been more urgent. The South China Sea remains a persistent flashpoint. Recent incidents—including joint Philippine–United Statessails at Scarborough Shoal, escalating verbal clashes between Manila and Beijing, and a cargo ship capsizing in disputed waters—have heightened risks to regional stability and ASEAN cohesion. Overlapping claims among Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam continue to stall negotiations on a Code of Conduct, while China’s growing assertiveness tests ASEAN unity.

These immediate tensions are compounded by broader geopolitical and geoeconomic pressures. Intensifying US–China rivalry, persistent trade uncertainty, and external coercion are reshaping the Indo-Pacific, with flashpoints spanning the Taiwan Strait, the Korean Peninsula, and the South China Sea, alongside rising non-traditional threats. Exposure to regional shocks—from trade coercion and supply-chain disruption to cyberattacks—has increased sharply, raising the cost of strategic miscalculation.

Against this backdrop, three measures stand out as critical to strengthening the ASEAN–Australia partnership.

Firstly, strengthen cooperation in key areas of mutual interest under Australia’s Southeast Asia Economic Strategy to 2040. Climate change and the energy transition stand out as an immediate priority. ASEAN faces acute vulnerabilities—from rising sea levels and extreme weather to surging energy demand as economies and populations grow. While the bloc has committed to lifting renewables to 45 percent of installed power capacity by 2030, fossil fuels continue to dominate the regional energy mix, emphasising the scale of the transition challenge.

Building on existing initiatives, including the ASEAN–Australia Energy Cooperation Package, Canberra can help ASEAN can accelerate progress by fast-tracking implementation of the ASEAN Plan of Action for Energy Cooperation (2026–2030). Prioritising cross-border renewable energy projects, strengthening grid interconnections, and actively seeking Australian expertise and co-investment in green infrastructure would help translate ambition into delivery. Australia’s own energy transition—anchored in its legislated Net Zero by 2050 commitment and a 43 percent emissions reduction target by 2030—further enhances its credibility as a long-term partner.

Doing so would not only accelerate renewable energy uptake but also deepen regional economic integration, generate high-skilled employment, and reinforce Australia’s role as a trusted partner in Southeast Asia’s energy transition.

Secondly, sustained funding for education and skills exchanges must be prioritised.Expanding scholarships and vocational training is critical to rebuilding the human capital that underpins effective diplomacy, trade, and security engagement. Yet educational links—particularly in regional languages and studies—are under strain.

Language education in Australia illustrates the challenge. A 2012 white paper set the ambition that all Australian students would study an Asian language continuously by 2025. In reality, Year 12 enrolments in Asian languages, including Indonesian, have fallen to their lowest level in a decade, according to the Business Council of Australia. At the tertiary level, enrolments in Bahasa Indonesia declined by 76 percent between 2004 and 2022, based on data from the Australian Consortium for In-Country Indonesian Studies. These trends risk hollowing out the expertise required for sustained engagement with Southeast Asia.

ASEAN member states can play a reciprocal role by expanding outbound scholarships and vocational programs for Australian students and professionals, integrating Australia-focused modules into national curricula, and supporting joint Technical and Vocational Education and Training initiatives in stem, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), creative industries, and digital skills. Such two-way investment would strengthen workforce capabilities on both sides while reinforcing the people-level foundations of the partnership.

Thirdly, deepen people-to-people engagement as a strategic asset.People-to-people initiatives—through scholarships, academic exchanges, and professional networks—build trust and enable informal diplomacy, allowing candid exchanges that often sit beyond formal channels. Programs such as the New Colombo Plan and the Westpac Asian Exchange Scholars initiative give Australians first-hand regional experience, strengthening Southeast Asia literacy and long-term engagement.

The impact is already evident. Alumni of the New Colombo Plan have gone on to lead businesses, diplomatic initiatives, and cultural collaborations across Southeast Asia, demonstrating the enduring value of early exposure and sustained networks. Expanding these programs would help cultivate a cadre of informed professionals equipped to navigate complex regional dynamics, fostering innovation, mutual understanding, and security cooperation beyond formal agreements.

Concurrently, ASEAN and its member states can deepen engagement by actively nominating participants for Australian-led programs, co-funding joint dialogues and youth forums, and leveraging platforms such as the ASEAN–Australia Centre to host more inbound activities across Southeast Asia. Institutionalising these exchanges would ensure the partnership is underpinned by durable networks capable of enduring beyond short-term political cycles.

Challenges loom large. Short-term political cycles and competing domestic priorities pose real hurdles, but sustained leadership can lock in long-term commitments. Institutional mechanisms—such as multi-year funding pledges, legislated strategies, and cross-party consensus—can insulate key initiatives from electoral shifts, ensuring continuity and signaling reliability to ASEAN partners.

In an increasingly contested Asia-Pacific, the ASEAN–Australia partnership stands out as a model of cooperative resilience. By acting decisively—Australia deepening investment in regional frameworks, education, and people-to-people links, while ASEAN and its members advance unity, implement shared priorities, and engage proactively—both sides can secure lasting prosperity and stability. The stakes are high, and the strategic window is narrowing. The time to strengthen ASEAN–Australia ties, on mutually beneficial terms, is now.

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This article written by Geneveive Donellon-May, a non-resident Vasey Fellow at the Pacific Forum, a Research Fellow at the Yokosuka Council on Asia-Pacific Studies, a Fellow at the Indo-Pacific Studies Center and a non-resident fellow at the Institute for Security and Development Policy (ISDP). She is also a Policy Monitoring Officer at Foreign Policy talks, a Researcher at Oxford Global Society, serves on the advisory board of Modern Diplomacy, and is a Pacific Forum Young Leader. She holds an MSc from the University of Oxford and a BA (Hons.) from the University of Melbourne.