Indian Ocean Defence & Security Conference 2024

I begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet on the banks of the Derbarl Yerrigan, the Whadjuk people of the great Nyoongar nation of South Western Australia, and pay my respects to their Elders, past and present.

I also pay my respects to all our serving personnel, those that have served and the families that support them.

It is a pleasure to join you today for the Indian Ocean Defence and Security Conference.

I extend a warm welcome to those who have travelled here from our partner nations in and around the Indian Ocean. 

Defence Senior Leaders,

Distinguished guests,

Industry enablers,

Ladies and Gentlemen, 

Astute readers of the Defence Strategic Review will have noticed a slightly different map of Australia in the chapter on our Defence strategic environment.

It tilts the continent on its side, and traces the Indian Ocean around from the Western Australian coastline through to Indonesia, across the Bay of Bengal to India and Sri Lanka and around to the African Coast.   

As a proud Western Australian, I love that map because it shows our state on top. 

While for many this may seem odd, it is very much an accurate portrayal of Western Australia’s economic and strategic view of the world.

This perspective also reveals a strategic truth: that Australia has a vital interest in the Indian Ocean region, and Western Australians live at its geopolitical crossroads.

Indeed, the strategic significance of the Indian Ocean as well as a West and North Western outlook is reflected in the fact that since December 2007 through to now, there has only been one six-month period where there has not been a Minister from WA as Foreign Minister or as one of the Defence Ministers.

For decades, this geography has bestowed blessings of many kinds on the people of our state - cultural, economic and social - and it has fuelled Australia’s prosperity. 

But as strategic challenges compound, as we confront the threat of conflict and the prospect of coercion, Australia has had to find a new approach to making our way in an increasingly contested region. 

As you’ve heard from my ministerial colleagues yesterday, Australia has embraced the concept of National Defence.

It’s a coordinated, whole-of-government and whole-of-nation approach to meet the strategic challenges our nation faces. 

It draws on Australia’s innate strengths and unique contributions to the region, spanning our enduring democratic values, our history of safeguarding international rules and contributing to regional architectures, as well as our strong economy and the strength of our partnerships in the Indo-Pacific.

Today I’d like to focus on a key element of Australia’s strategic approach, which is Defence’s international engagement.

It’s an important part of Australia’s efforts to maintain regional peace and prosperity, towards preventing conflict before it occurs. 

Our success in this endeavour rests on Defence’s people.

We can’t fulfil any aspect of our strategy without a highly-skilled Defence workforce. 

Our people are our most important capability.

They are the anchors of our Defence engagement.  

And they are the key to achieving the greater interoperability we seek with our friends and partners in the region, both in a technical sense and in a relationship and understanding sense.

It’s not just the number of exercises that matters when it comes to building cooperation.

It is growth in engagement that signals trust and respect and forges deeper relationships between our people.

Across the board, Australia is developing deeper and stronger relationships with our Indian Ocean partners. 

In February I attended the Raisina Dialogue in India, which focused on geopolitics and geo-economics, and explored challenges facing the global community.

I met with leaders from our Indian Ocean partners, and discussed the importance of engagement with India and the broader Indo-Pacific region, as well as the important role our Indian diaspora communities serve at home here in Australia.

Deeper and stronger defence relationships are also being developed, including through the Defence Cooperation Program.

Our cooperation focuses on maritime security, education and training, always with an emphasis on building sovereign capability for those we partner with.

These relationships have never been stronger, reflecting how we are all making choices about how to strengthen regional resilience.

Our people are working hard to foster mutual understanding and friendship through Australian Defence Force (ADF) deployments to the Indian Ocean, including through our flagship regional engagement activity, Indo-Pacific Endeavour.

Activities conducted during Indo-Pacific Endeavour across Southeast Asia and the Northeast Indian Ocean are incredibly diverse, and they are part of a deep and sustained program of engagement. 

During Indo-Pacific Endeavour 2023, RAAF P-8A Poseidon air crews worked side-by-side with their Indian Navy P-8I Neptune mates at the Indian Naval Air Station Rajali practicing coordinated maritime surveillance and anti-submarine warfare.

Soldiers from the ADF and the Royal Brunei Armed Forces charged together across Penanjong Beach, practicing amphibious assault techniques and learning from each other.

And Indo-Pacific Endeavour returned to the Maldives for the second time, to mark the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between our countries.

Indo-Pacific Endeavour will visit the Indian Ocean again this year, and will include activities with Bangladesh, Brunei, Sri Lanka and the Maldives. 

Australia is proud to build our security relationship with India for the benefit of the region, including through the Quad. 

The Quad was born in the regional response to the tragic Boxing Day tsunami 20 years ago.

Today Australia and India continue to work together to meet the region’s most pressing challenges. 

This year, Royal Australian Air Force C-27 aircraft delivered Indian-donated aid to isolated communities in Papua New Guinea.

It was a great example of our cooperation to the benefit of people in the Indo-Pacific. 

Australia and India are top-tier security partners. 

We are focused on deepening engagement, and increasing the frequency and complexity of our cooperation.

In the past 12 months alone, our defence cooperation has seen significant growth. 

Australia hosted Exercise MALABAR for the first time, welcoming Indian, Japanese and US navies to the east coast for training in high-end warfighting.

Here on the west coast, the Indian submarine INS Vagir became the first Indian submarine to deploy to Australia for exercises with the Royal Australian Navy.

And we welcomed Indian Navy Dornier maritime patrol aircraft to the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, our Indian Ocean Territory.

We are also increasing the scope, complexity and frequency of bilateral military exercises such as AUSTRAHIND and AUSINDEX, and Australia will participate in India’s multilateral air force Exercise TARANG SHAKTI, for the first time later this year.

Australia will continue to seek new opportunities to work with all our Indian Ocean partners. 

Focused on building their sovereign capability, we will continue working together toward our common goal of security, peace and prosperity within the region.

We are committed to transparency about our strategic goals and the means by which we will achieve them.

We are making significant defence investments here in the west, including through the expansion of HMAS Stirling, continuous naval shipbuilding at the Henderson Shipyard, as well as upgrading critical air bases including RAAF Base Learmonth and Cocos (Keeling) Islands.

The generational reinvestment we are making in our surface combatant fleet, to complement a fleet of conventionally-armed nuclear-powered submarines will make us stronger partners to the region.

Most of all, we are investing in our people – in growing the ADF. It is the people that operate our materiel, that visit our neighbours and participate in exercises. It is our people that build the relationships, demonstrate our commitment and assist with providing stability in our region.

We are seeking to grow a diverse and inclusive ADF that reflects the modern Australia it serves, with a culture that reflects the values of service, courage, respect, integrity and excellence.

We are also ensuring our people are equipped with the best training, so that they in turn can fulfil the demanding roles we ask of them, including building their capacity to forge partnerships with the forces of our friends and partners. 

That is essential to building our collective deterrence. 

That is how we keep trade flowing, build resilience, maintain maritime domain awareness, and secure freedom of navigation and overflight.

And that is how we ensure that the Indian Ocean is a region where every nation’s sovereignty is respected and peace continues to be the norm. 

Thank you.

ENDS