Address to Asialink Business: Advancing transnational education

Speech, check against delivery 18 June 2026 Good morning. I'd like to acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the lands on which we're meeting, the Gadigal people, and pay my respects to their elders past, present, and emerging. And I'd like to also acknowledge the presence of Lisa Rodgers, our Business Champion for Brunei one of ten business champions, appointed by the government, to help deepen our economic engagement with Southeast Asia.

Back in my student days, at UNSW, there was folklore about the jacaranda trees on campus. It held that, if you hadn't started studying for your end-of-year exams by the time the trees began to flower by the time they began producing that canopy of purple, which Les Murray called their 'open violet immensities' then it was too late. You were destined to fail your exams.

Of course, that bit of folklore isn't unique. Old hands say the same thing at the University of Queensland. And, until it died a few years ago, the same was said about the jacaranda at the University of Sydney.

But even though it's common enough, UNSW have decided that this folklore is a sufficiently important part of the experience of studying at UNSW that, over the years, they have replanted and replaced the jacarandas. So that the folklore can continue. So that newer students will share an experience with older students like me.

I mention this because it illustrates a point about our education sector that is important. And it's this: our offering to international students is about more than just supplying them with a quality education. It's also about supplying them with a distinctly Australian study experience.

That distinctiveness is what gives Australia an edge in the global education market. And attracts students from around the world. It's vital that we're conscious of this.

At $50 billion per year, education is our fourth largest export. It's a cornerstone of our economy. And, in addition to the jobs and prosperity that it creates in Australia, education creates substantive and enduring links of goodwill across our region.

The Colombo Plan is a powerful example of that approach. From the 1950s on, it saw thousands of students from across the globe come to Australian universities and training providers. Receiving educations and skills that, on returning home, they used to their benefit and for the prosperity of their countries.

It is among the most successful 'soft power' initiatives of our times. Right now, we have an opportunity to build on that historic goodwill and recognition. And renew it for the future.

For the benefit of Australians and our region. Because the demographic trends across Southeast Asia right now are undeniable. Three factors are coming together: an expanding middle class, youthful populations, and workforces responding to rapid technological change.

These trends are converging to create enormous demand for education services across Southeast Asia. As the Government's strategy points out, Australia is best placed to meet that demand. Our official development assistance investments, programs and partnerships which total $208 million this financial year, and connect Australia with partner governments and institutions already help expand opportunity for the new generations of students in Southeast Asia.

And our education services sector is complementing that by bringing world-class teaching, skills, and institutional support to the region, using offshore delivery models. Southeast Asia is already one of our largest markets for transnational education. In the last ten years, the footprint of Australian overseas education providers has doubled.

Australian providers have established in ten years as many branch campuses as they did in the twenty years prior. Only last October, Monash University announced its new $1 billion campus in Malaysia. It's a project that our deal teams and High Commission, in Kuala Lumpur, helped facilitate.

Branch campuses like Monash's help their host countries meet education and skills needs at the university and vocational education and training levels. But we've still work to do. We still need to reach further.

Three months ago, I went to the Philippines, leading a delegation of Australian education providers. This was a mission directly linked with the strategy one of 24 targeted delegations we have taken to the region. We met with senior Filipino leaders and education and business stakeholders.

Discussing areas where we could work together to deliver new education opportunities. There was a clear appetite for what Australian education providers could offer. And there was considerable scope to expand it and refine how we offer it.

From the layered strategies required for upskilling and reskilling programs. To the need to recognise the value of vocational training. From aligning programs with real-world skills and workforce needs.

To delivering Australian-based opportunities, with Australian qualifications, in partnership with Filipino institutions, in the Philippines. But it was also clear, on my visit, that transnational education was not just about exporting education. It was and is a way to deepen economic ties, to support essential skills development, and to position Australia as a trusted, long-term partner.

We're doing this is in so many areas. strategy, with our ten business champions, we're engaging with Southeast Asia to bring about the prosperity and stability that will benefit our region. Lifting our two-way trade to a record $197.5 billion and our two-way investment to $296.2 billion. But the opportunity to do more in education is before us now.

Metaphorically speaking, the jacaranda trees are soon to bloom. That's why today's event is timely. Let's seize the opportunity it offers.

For the betterment of our country and our region.