I want to acknowledge the Ngunnawal people, the traditional custodians of the Canberra region, and pay my respects to their Elders, past and present. 

Paul’s confident outline and language really did remind me – I travelled to the Garma festival in east Arnhem Land over the weekend. While there’s tension between our European history and our geography, it does bear concentrating on, the fact that trade and relationships between northern Australian first peoples and the region are represented in the tamarind trees you see on many of the beaches; the tamarind sweets that kids eat; the food that there is in that region; the renditions of Macassan ports in First Nations art in the region. It’s all a reminder that we can shape our own future in this region.

I want to thank Paul Girrawah House for that welcome.  

I’d also like to acknowledge distinguished guests:

• Martine Letts (CEO, Asialink);
• Leigh Howard (CEO, Asialink Business) – Leigh, I want to acknowledge your four years of service to Asialink. You’ve played an important national role and I want to thank you for that work and wish you the very best in your future work;
• The leadership of the University of Melbourne;
• My parliamentary colleagues, Tim Watts MP – whose photo I keep seeing flash up on the screen – and, of all of my conservative opponents in the Senate, my favourite one, the most capable one, Senator Dean Smith, is here;
• All of the alumni, guests, partners, and colleagues across the sectors represented here tonight.

I agree with what Imran Lum said in the video – 1,200 alumni, but we need thousands more.

Thirty years ago, the Asialink Leaders Program was founded on the bold premise that Australia needed to cultivate a new cultural and strategic literacy about our region if we were to succeed in this part of the world.

It has produced remarkable leaders.

As was the case back in 1995, there is a Labor government in Canberra that shares Asialink’s keen awareness of the opportunities of the region.

Home to the world’s most dynamic economies; the largest, fastest-growing middle classes; and some of the key players in the technologies and industries of the future.

And millions of Australians have close ties to the region through cultural heritage, family and professional relationships.

Local firms, and Australia’s public sector, must make more of these valuable relationships as we continue to deepen our engagement in the region.  

The program we’re celebrating tonight has played a vital role in all of this, and that role is captured superbly in 30 Years of Asia Success, which if you haven’t, make sure you pick up a copy on the way out.

I’m the minister responsible for technology questions, but I still love a book.

As economic and geopolitical balance shifts toward Asia, it really does underscore in strategic terms, in business terms, in cultural terms, ‘Asia capability is more important than ever’.

I think effective engagement in our region begins with a clear sense of who we are as a nation.

On 3 May, the Prime Minister invoked the term ‘progressive patriotism’. It’s a term that says so much about who we are and how the government sees us meeting these challenges with a confident, Australian sense of nationalism about who we are.

Australians are polite rather than ostentatious in our sense of national pride.

We are not demonstrative; we’re thoughtful and purposeful in the way that we engage.

We are confident in ourselves, and open to the opportunities around us.

We are laconic about our successes, but nobody doubts our national achievements – the creation of a cohesive and equitable multicultural society that includes the oldest continuing cultures in human history.

Underscoring all this is our quintessentially Australian – we like to think – sense of fairness, equality, dignity and practicality.

The confident, larrikin patriotism that characterised Australia in the 1980s grew over the 30 years of uninterrupted economic growth, stable regional relations and rules-based trade that followed.

That long period of security and prosperity delivered for all of us – in better living standards and stronger security. But arguably, complacency grew alongside it.

And now the world has changed decisively.

Progressive patriotism is about harnessing that Australian thoughtfulness and confidence to build solidarity across our community as we meet that changing world, with its challenges and all of its opportunities.  

That’s what, in my world of work, drives our mission to redevelop the capability of domestic Australian industry - backing local workers and backing local businesses with a plan for a Future Made in Australia, so that we make more things here, add more value here, and compete and collaborate globally.

All of that may sound contradictory alongside the government’s focus on regional engagement and Southeast Asian economic prosperity, in particular as reflected in the Southeast Asia Economic Strategy.

I can assure you: I have never thought there is a contradiction at the heart of these two propositions.

Because our geography, along with the capacity and ambition of our regional partners, means a Future Made in Australia is also a future made in the region together.

Shared growth, stronger industrial and supply chain collaboration, deeper trade and investment relationships mean a more resilient, prosperous, equitable and inter-linked region.

That is in Australia’s interest, and in the interest of our regional partners.

Industrial rejuvenation and international engagement go hand in hand.

And the precondition for both is that we know who we are, the values that are driving our industrial mission, and what we want the outcome of that mission to be.  

This Albanese Labor Government is clear on all of these things.

That’s why we have developed a Southeast Asia Economic Strategy to deepen trade ties and grow two-way investment; a Green Economy Agreement with Singapore to deepen climate investment links; and an electric vehicle MOU with Indonesia to support EV development in one of the region’s largest economies.

Asialink, for its part, is very clear about Australia’s values, mission and goals.

Asialink Business plays a particularly valuable role in supporting the government’s investment deal teams that build up Australian investment in Southeast Asian companies.

This is what progressive patriotism looks like in practice: engaging purposefully with our regional neighbours and showing them the potential of engagement and investment, two-way, with Australia.  

This approach delivers material benefits for Australian workers and Australian businesses.

I can with some confidence say that we can’t predict what the next 30 years will look like.

We know that we’re facing climate and energy transitions and changes, opportunities from AI and the next waves of technological change, as well as starkly challenging strategic circumstances.

If Australia is to meet these challenges successfully – and I am confident we will – then we’re going to need the kind of leaders that Asialink has been producing for 30 years.

As Imran said, we need thousands more of them.

On behalf of the Australian Government, I want to thank Asialink and the University of Melbourne, and all of the people over the course of this long-sustained effort, for all of that remarkable work.

And I welcome your ongoing partnership in the next chapter of Australia’s engagement with Asia.