Australia repeatedly calls Indonesia one of its most important relationships, yet barriers to travel, declining language skills and shallow engagement continue to undermine that ambition.
For decades, successive Australian prime ministers have solemnly declared Indonesia to be one of our most important international relationships.
Paul Keating famously observed that “there is no country more important to Australia than Indonesia”, a sentiment echoed by Anthony Albanese.
Fine words. But increasingly, they sound like diplomatic platitudes rather than a serious national commitment.
The uncomfortable truth is that Australia has spent decades talking about Indonesia’s importance while consistently failing to match that rhetoric with meaningful engagement.
Our nearest major neighbour is no ordinary country. Indonesia is a sprawling democracy of almost 290 million people, comprising more than 17,000 islands, with the largest Muslim population on earth. Yet Indonesia is also home to more Christians than Australia.
It is Southeast Asia’s largest economy, with an expanding middle class, enormous commercial potential and growing regional influence. And it sits virtually on our doorstep.
Yet for many Australians, Indonesia remains little more than Bali, cheap holidays and occasional headlines about terrorism, religious tensions or political instability.
This ignorance is not simply embarrassing. It carries serious economic and strategic consequences.
In 2010, as national vice-president of the Australia Indonesia Business Council, I worked alongside colleagues including Chris Barnes and Ian Satchwell, together with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, developing ideas that helped shape the ambitious vision behind the Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IA-CEPA).
Signed in 2019 and implemented in 2020, IA-CEPA was intended to transform our commercial relationship through closer cooperation in agriculture, manufacturing, resources, education, technology and investment. There has certainly been progress. Bilateral trade reached approximately $33 billion in 2025.
But consider the extraordinary potential of a market approaching 290 million people, located just hours from Perth – can we seriously argue that Australia has fully embraced this opportunity?
The problem is not simply tariffs, lack of investment, regulations or commercial barriers.
It is our persistent failure to invest in the relationships, understanding and trust upon which successful international partnerships depend. Trade agreements cannot manufacture friendships.
Organisations such as the Perth-based Indonesia Institute and ACICIS have worked tirelessly to build these connections through education, language programs and personal exchanges. Yet while Canberra praises people-to-people relationships, its own policies often discourage them.
Consider Australia’s treatment of ordinary Indonesian visitors.
An Indonesian family wishing to holiday in Australia generally faces visa application fees starting at $190 per person, potentially substantial supporting documentation and uncertainty over approval.
A family of four can therefore spend over $1,000 on agents and processes in merely applying for permission to visit Australia, and before purchasing a single airline ticket. Meanwhile, Australians can visit Indonesia using a comparatively straightforward visa-on-arrival arrangement at around $45 per person.
Of course, Australia must protect its borders and maintain immigration integrity. But surely there is a more intelligent balance between legitimate security requirements and welcoming visitors from a country our leaders repeatedly describe as indispensable?
Why make it unnecessarily difficult for Indonesian families, professionals and businesspeople to spend money in our hotels, restaurants, shops and regional communities?
This is particularly relevant to Western Australia, where geographical proximity offers an enormous competitive advantage.
Instead, too many Indonesians look towards Singapore, Malaysia, Japan and other destinations that actively compete for their tourism and investment.
The contradiction becomes even more disturbing when we examine education.
For decades, Australian governments have encouraged closer Asian engagement while Indonesian-language learning has struggled to maintain its place in Australian schools and universities. How can we claim to understand our nearest major neighbour when so few Australians can communicate in its national language?
And how can Australian businesses hope to compete successfully in, and build partnerships with, Indonesia when cultural understanding is so often treated as optional?
Then there is the political rhetoric.
When prominent Australian politicians, including Pauline Hanson, promote sweeping fears about Islam and immigration, we should not be surprised if Indonesians question whether Australia genuinely welcomes them.
Indonesia is overwhelmingly Muslim, but it is also a complex, diverse society whose people cannot sensibly be reduced to religious stereotypes.
Australia has every right to debate immigration and national security. But careless generalisations carry consequences far beyond our domestic political arguments.
Perhaps most concerning is Australia’s tendency to rediscover Indonesia’s importance whenever regional strategic tensions intensify. As competition between China and the United States grows, Canberra increasingly seeks Jakarta’s cooperation on regional security. Yet Indonesia has its own national interests, its own diplomatic traditions and a longstanding commitment to maintaining strategic independence.
It is not simply another country waiting to endorse Australia’s foreign policy priorities.
Friendships cannot be switched on when circumstances become uncomfortable. Nor can strategic trust be purchased through occasional ministerial visits, defence agreements and carefully scripted joint communiqués. It must be earned.
And here lies perhaps the greatest irony.
Throughout my decades of involvement with Indonesia, I have been struck by the courtesy, patience and restraint of Indonesian officials, business leaders and ordinary citizens.
Rather than publicly complain about Australia’s indifference, many simply turn their attention elsewhere.
As one young Indonesian businessman who studied in Australia recently remarked privately to me: “These days, Pak Ross, when Indonesians look south they see little more than penguins.”
It was a humorous observation, but one carrying a rather devastating message. Australia risks becoming increasingly irrelevant to the very neighbour we repeatedly declare essential to our future.
Indonesia is not without its own bureaucratic, regulatory and political challenges. Nor should Australia overlook the considerable diplomatic and commercial progress achieved by successive governments. But goodwill is not inexhaustible.
Australia needs fewer speeches about Indonesia’s importance, and more practical commitment, easier visitor access, stronger Indonesian-language education, deeper business engagement and genuine investment in the next generation of bilateral relationships.
Indonesia has shown Australia remarkable patience but perhaps the real question is not whether Indonesia is being too nice.
It is whether Australia has mistaken Indonesian courtesy for an unlimited willingness to tolerate our indifference?
Ross B. Taylor AM is a former WA commissioner to Indonesia; the founder of the Perth-based Indonesia Institute and a former national vice-president of the Australia-Indonesia Business Council.
Ross B. Taylor
Ross B. Taylor AM is a former WA Commissioner to Indonesia; the founder of the Perth-based Indonesia Institute and a former National Vice-President of the Australia-Indonesia Business Council. Ross also operated his own business In Medan, Sumatra and also was the Marketing Director of a large fertiliser company exporting products into the Asian market, including Indonesia.