De La Salle University Foreign Policy Address

23 July 2026 Manila, The Philippines Good morning and It is really a great pleasure to be back in Manila during the Philippines ASEAN chair year. And it is a privilege to be here in the year we celebrate eight decades of diplomatic relations. But of course our ties of trade and culture, our ties of friendship and family are centuries older.

They reach back to the Manilamen who set out across the seas to the shores of northern Australia in the late 1800s, casting their fortunes in the pearling trade… And they endured through the sacrifices of both our peoples, side by side, in the darkest days of the Second World War. Those ties live on in the daily life of both our nations – our families, our workers, our businesses, our faith communities, our artists, and of course our universities… Through De La Salle's exchange program, young Australians come to study here, welcomed into all the richness that Filipino culture has to offer.

And young Filipinos come to Australia under our long-running Australia Awards Scholarship program. Today, Filipino-Australians are among the largest and most dynamic of the many communities that call Australia home. One of the aspects of Australia, of which we are very proud, is that we can see ourselves reflected in the world, and the world can see itself reflected in Australia.

It is a source of national power. Your president, President Marcos, has spoken about the spirit of and mateship that defines our relationship. A relationship built through effort, through shared sacrifice – people carrying responsibility for each other.

And our relationship is now at a high point, a historic high point... The Strategic Partnership agreed between President Marcos and Prime Minister Albanese has helped strengthen our cooperation in defence, development, maritime security, counterterrorism, cyber, and trade and investment. And this year, with your country as ASEAN Chair, we also mark fifty years of the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia, TAC – a document that has helped define the last half century of this region.

And the drafters of the treaty – the Philippines among them – committed to mutual respect. Committed to sovereignty and territorial integrity. Committed to the peaceful settlement of disputes.

To renouncing the threat or use of force. And committed to cooperation between states with different histories, different interests, and different systems. This Treaty of Amity and Cooperation is architecture for living peacefully with difference.

And through it, Southeast Asia showed the world that it would not be defined by rivalry. That restraint, dialogue and respect are not weaknesses but our strategic assets. The TAC underscores why countries make rules, and why we must work together to uphold them.

You see, rules give countries, particularly middle powers like Australia and the Philippines, more choices. More confidence, more agency, more room to move. And so too does working together.

The Philippines' theme for its ASEAN Chair year is Navigating Our Future, Together. And in these uncertain and unstable times, this demands much of all of us. It demands countries resist the urge to turn inwards.

It demands that we invest in our region, in our relationships, in the rules – in our collective resilience – before it is too late. Before the rules are so diminished that they are no longer recognisable. Before crisis closes the door on cooperation.

Friends, we know our region is being reshaped. The strategic landscape has changed, and artificial intelligence is reshaping the foundations of our societies and the nature of conflict. We know competition is intensifying.

Old certainties no longer hold. And the risk of escalation and miscalculation is growing. And the full impact of this year's shocks – in the Middle East, in our region, in the global economy – is still unfolding.

We two, Australia and the Philippines, are middle powers in a world that is changing. And our responsibility is to help shape that change. To contribute to peace, stability, and prosperity in our region.

And we know that our success – and the lives of everyday Australians and everyday Filipinos – depends on it. We don't want any single power to set the terms of our future. What we seek is a balance of power, where no country dominates and no country is dominated.

A region with ASEAN at its centre. A region characterised by the principles in the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific... We continue to support the United States' engagement in our region – including through the Quad.

Because we believe it is critical to the Indo-Pacific's strategic stability and reinforces the ability of all countries in our region to make choices in their own sovereign interests. Australia takes our own approach to reinforcing our relationships and our resilience, the rules we depend on, and the region that we all share. We know that acting together gives countries like ours more weight, more influence, more ability to shape the decisions that affect us.

And together we must build the region we want – not just accept the region that others might want for themselves. And to do that we have to invest in our shared security and resilience – before crises, during crises and after crises. We've seen that in sharp relief this year, as the conflict in the Middle East continues.

Australia has long called for de-escalation and an end to war. And we want to see negotiations between the US and Iran continue, the ceasefire to resume and we want to see the Strait of Hormuz open. With so much of our region's fuel and energy dependent on the Strait, this conflict presents us all with a grave challenge.

Across our region, across Southeast Asia, energy prices have spiked, costs for families and businesses have increased, and we continue to see ongoing pressure on food production. The Strait of Hormuz and this conflict shows us what we in the region have always understood. That people suffer when a strait is weaponised.

And we all know that the cost of tolls on any chokepoint is not solely economic. People depend on straits and sea lanes remaining open. In navigating this ongoing challenge, Australia has relied on our partnerships across our region.

And our relationships with Singapore, Brunei, Malaysia, and Vietnam – as well as China, South Korea, and Japan – have helped ensure the continued flow of essential fuels and fertiliser. We worked with the Indonesian Government and industry to facilitate more than 250,000 tonnes of additional agricultural-grade urea for Australian farmers. And this means Australia can continue being a reliable supplier of food and energy to the region.

Because what goes to Australia as fuel and fertiliser comes back to this region as food. We supply a third of the Philippines LNG needs, half of your wheat imports, and almost a fifth of your beef. So when you have a plate of bistek tagalog there's a good chance it has its origins in an Australian cattle station.

This is an example of what we mean when we say Australia's future depends on the countries of ASEAN. And the countries of ASEAN can depend on Australia. We share a region, and we share a future.

And the flow of trade that sustains our shared future depends not only on ships and sea lanes, but also on the rules that govern them. As a middle power, we will continue to support the rules and norms that underpin shared prosperity and shared security. And that is why our country will continue to be a champion of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Ten years ago, an Arbitral Tribunal constituted under UNCLOS handed down a unanimous, clear, and binding ruling in the South China Sea arbitration between the Philippines and China. That 2016 Award was a landmark decision – and we have consistently called for China and the Philippines to abide by it. Cases such as this in our region illustrate how international law has been built, defended, and promoted by small and medium countries from different traditions.

We believe that international norms and law are the best way to collectively manage disputes, to set standards of behaviour, and to ensure transparency. This is why we support the international practice set by the Hague Code of Conduct when it comes to ballistic missile activities. This code sets the benchmark for transparency and helps provide reassurance – of strategic intent – to avoid the risk of miscalculation. 145 countries have subscribed, including Australia and the United States.

And as we have said publicly, China's test of a nuclear-capable submarine-launched missile from the South China Sea earlier this month came with too little information and notification, including to the Philippines – over which the missile flew– and Pacific nations, near where the missile landed. And it comes in the context of a rapid military build-up of China's nuclear arsenal, without the transparency or reassurance the region expects.

So, this is why Australia has described the test as provocative and destabilising. Many, including Australia, have spoken for some time about the trend away from rules to the use of power. So, we must be clear and assert what we need to hold onto in the rules-based order.

Including where disputes inevitably arise, we must continue to advocate for those differences to be managed peacefully, and in line with international law. Respect for rules like UNCLOS has never been more important, to shared economic resilience and prosperity. And we certainly do not want to see any actions or arrangements that undermine UNCLOS, or any state's rights under UNCLOS.

Because I make this point, the erosion of collective rights under international law does not benefit stability. It does not reinforce sovereignty. And it does not strengthen our shared resilience.

So Australia, with others, will continue to register our concerns about Chinese vessels engaging in destabilising and dangerous conduct in the South China Sea, including towards Philippine, Vietnamese, Malaysian, and Indonesian vessels. And Australia will continue to invest in stability – providing $160 million AUD (6.8 billion pesos) over 10 years to expand maritime cooperation with our Southeast Asian partners – including the Philippines.

Cooperation that is helping partners boost maritime domain awareness, implement maritime governance reform, protect the marine environment, and strengthen resilience. And we are doubling our bilateral maritime assistance to the Philippines through a new $18 million AUD (770 million pesos), four-year investment. And we are investing additional funds of $10 million AUD (427 million pesos) of cutting-edge drone technology and operator training for the Philippine Coast Guard.

The same principles we uphold at sea must also hold in the digital domain – our vision is of an Indo-Pacific where every country has the capability to build its own digital future. Last week, my Prime Minister announced a new artificial intelligence framework so Australia can capture the opportunity, share the benefits and keep Australians safe. And we want to engage with ASEAN and across our region as we work to help shape the future rather than letting the future of AI shape us all.

Friends, since our government came to office, we have been pursuing new alignments and maximising how we work with others, to better promote and protect Australia's national interests. That effort has been most focused here in our region, because this is where Australia's interests are most at stake. And that is why we have been working persistently to strengthen our relationships with Southeast Asia.

Australian ministers have made more than 140 visits to the region since May 2022, including 20 visits by the Prime Minister and 31 by me as Foreign Minister. And the Prime Minister has attended every summit with his ASEAN counterparts. And I have attended every Foreign Ministers' Meeting with our ASEAN colleagues.

We have upgraded our ties not just with the Philippines, but also with Indonesia, Brunei, Vietnam, Singapore, and Timor-Leste. In March 2024, we marked 50 years of dialogue relations with ASEAN. We were ASEAN's first dialogue partner, an achievement of which we are very proud.

And we hosted in celebration of that, the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit in Melbourne — the largest diplomatic gathering Australia has hosted in over a decade. We have established the ASEAN-Australia Centre, designed to deepen long-term links between business, education, and civil society across the region. And as ASEAN's oldest Dialogue Partner and, for five years now, a Comprehensive Strategic Partner, Australia remains committed, in principle and in practice, to ASEAN's centrality and to ASEAN-led mechanisms.

And it is with that commitment in mind that I announce a new phase of ASEAN-Australia Political Security Partnership, of $11 million AUD (470 million pesos) over the next five years. This will continue our co-operation in addressing shared regional security challenges through practical collaboration and policy dialogue. And it builds on our important shared work on conflict prevention.

Conflict prevention, which was included in our Joint Statement on Conflict Prevention with ASEAN, at the ASEAN-led Regional Architecture agreed by leaders last year. So we do want to continue to work with ASEAN to implement the Leaders' Statement, including discussions on an early warning system to prevent crisis descending into conflict. Friends, as one of the world's fastest growing economic regions… With a potential consumer market twenty times larger than our own… And an appetite for commodities and services - health, education, and technology… …your region, Southeast Asia is and will remain a global economic powerhouse.

Now our two-way trade is at a record high - almost $200 billion AUD, and two-way investment is approaching $300 billion AUD. But we know there is more to do. We are implementing Invested: Australia's Southeast Asia Economic Strategy to 2040 because we understand that shared prosperity underpins peace and stability.

And so far, that has seen over $4 billion AUD of new Australian investment into the region. Including landmark investments through our Investment Financing Facility, helping Australian companies to invest in this region. And investing directly in projects FAST-P – Singapore's Financing Asia's Transition Partnership – boosting hydropower in Indonesia, and battery and solar storage here in the Philippines.

Across the region, we are working with partners to speed the shift to clean energy, to boost energy security, all of which is an investment in resilience. By supporting bilateral initiatives and the ASEAN Power Grid, Australia is helping partners attract the quality finance that is needed to secure Southeast Asia's energy future. Because energy security is a critical aspect of economic resilience.

And, by supporting ASEAN's Digital Economic Framework Agreement negotiations, we are helping to unlock a $2 trillion AUD economy for ASEAN, whilst managing the risks. We understand that being a reliable partner means showing up consistently and it means listening. In recent years, that consistency has mattered more than ever.

Whilst others have reduced or cut development funding to the region, Australia has prioritised the Indo-Pacific in our development program. As I said, we understand that prosperity supports and fosters stability. Development builds resilience.

Put simply, each of us is made stronger when each of us succeeds. So we have increased our development assistance to Southeast Asia, including to the Philippines. And over 75 cents of every Australian development dollar benefits the Indo-Pacific.

And here, in the Philippines, that means helping more than 150,000 people affected by tropical typhoons, and responding to the earthquake near Mindanao. In places like Myanmar – whose people continue to suffer from conflict, and political and economic crisis – we are working to alleviate suffering, improve economic, social conditions and advance a sustainable resolution.

And our assistance to the region includes support for peace building. Peace building efforts with mediators who have helped to resolve community conflicts. So what all this means is at a time of intensifying strategic competition.

At a time of global uncertainty, Australia is a partner on whom you can count. Friends, the challenges before us may well be formidable. But as President Marcos has said, our resolve to meet them is equally formidable.

Neighbours lifting a house together, carrying it on their shoulders to safer ground. No one person, no single country can build what we need to alone. So, this is the spirit with which Australia comes to Manila.

Ready to lift more and to carry our share. When President Marcos addressed the Australian Parliament in 2024, he said that in Australia, the Philippines sees a lifelong friend – one with whom you have endured joint sacrifices, revelled in shared victories, and now pursue common aspirations. There is no better description of the eighty years behind us.

But there is also no better compass for the years ahead. So that is our compass, as we keep writing the next chapters in the story of our partnership. And in the story of our region.

In our prayer today, before we started, we sought strength and wisdom. May we all have strength and wisdom as we navigate our future, together. Thank you very much.