Understanding the 2025 Indonesian State Visit to Australia: Key Details

From the 11th of November to the 12th of November 2025, the President of the Republic of Indonesia, Prabowo Subianto, had a formal state visit to Australia. This visit was significant because it continued the growing relationship between the Commonwealth of Australia and the Republic of Indonesia that has been a significant focus for Australia, specifically since the beginning of the second term of the Albanese Government. This significance was demonstrated by the fact that Prime Minister Albanese first foreign state visit in this second term was to the Republic of Indonesia. The visit to Australia by President Prabowo is significant because it marks the public acknowledgement from both sides of a new prospective Australia-Indonesia Treaty on Common Security.

What follows in this article will be a summary of the readouts regarding the visit from both sides and a short analysis by myself on the significance of this prospective treaty.

Let's start this readout summary with the host country, Australia. On the 11th, the Prime Minister's website announced the arrival of the Indonesian President. On the 12th, the Australian PM published a transcript of the joint media statement announcing the prospective Treaty that was presented to the public on HMAS Canberra in Sydney. The Foreign Minister's website also followed up with what could be regarded as the formal readout regarding the details of the prospective Treaty. And those were the three readouts that the Australian side published during the trip.

By contrast, the Indonesian side published 10 readouts regarding the 2-day trip. This is actually a normal amount given the nature of the Indonesians to publish a significant amount of details, and the fact that this is a formal state visit. On the 11th, the first Indonesian readout summarised President Prabowo’s arrival. The second highlighted the enthusiastic welcome by the Indonesian diaspora in Australia for the President. On the 12th, the third readout highlighted the closed one-on-one discussion that the Indonesian President and the Australian Prime Minister had at Kirribilli House. The fourth read out, summarised the meeting between the Indonesian President and the Australian Governor General. The fifth readout described the Indonesian President and the Australian Prime Minister, inspecting HMAS Canberra. The sixth readout highlighted the Indonesian President's comments during the Joint Press Statement on the HMAS Canberra. The seventh readout from the Indonesians highlighted the Prime Minister of Australia's comments on the new perspective treaty. The eighth readout described a friendly meeting with the former Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating, The ninth readout provided details of the Indonesian President leaving Australia. And the final tenth readout provided details of the Indonesian President arriving back in Indonesia, and his comments summarising the importance of the visit.

The major international relations achievement of the Albanese government's first term was the rapprochement of Australia-Chinese relations. In the second term, the major achievement seems to be growing Australia-Indonesia relations and relations with other South Pacific and Oceanic countries. Whilst, cynics may fairly come to the conclusion that Australia facilitating more relations with South Pacific and Oceanic countries seems to be Australia trying to facilitate its de facto US Deputy Sheriff status in the South. Facilitating greater relations with Indonesia, on the other hand, is not that simple.

According to World Population Review, Indonesia is the fourth-largest country in the world by total population of over 285 million people, with a steady year-on-year population growth since records began. According to the World Bank, in the year 2000, Indonesia by purchasing power parity standards was a trillion dollar economy. In 2024, it will be a 4.66 trillion dollar economy. The most significant recent bump in that purchasing power parity valuation occurred between 2020 and 2024. Where Indonesia was a 3.22 trillion dollar economy in 2020 and in 2024 is now a 4.66 trillion dollar economy. On a per capita purchasing power parity basis in that same period, Indonesians earned on average $11729.4 in 2020, and in 2024 $16448.3. According to Macrotrends, the manufacturing output valued in US dollars in the 2000 was 37.39 billion dollars. The most recent manufacturing statistics are from 2023, which according to Macrotrends in US dollars is 255.96 billion dollars.

By all rational measures of Indonesian economic and population size, it's pretty obvious to conclude that Indonesia is ingrained into the broader Southeast Asian ongoing economic boom. And is one of the most significant contributors to this ongoing boom, which has been a significant international relations and economic factors in the 21st century thus far. So with that being said, I think it's pretty fair to conclude that Australia is the junior partner in this bilateral relationship. Therefore, you cannot apply the de facto US Deputy Sheriff status in the same regard as you could with other bilateral relationships between Australia, South Pacific and Oceanic countries compared to Indonesia. This is also because of Indonesia's history with the non-aligned movement, as it staunchly and proudly proclaims its independence. If the Australians decide to attach themselves once again to the Collective West and act up against the Indonesians, because the Indonesians aren't doing what the Collective West wants. Well, the Indonesians will just disregard Australia, they've done this before.

For Australia to be a successful country in the 21st century, it needs to remove its tendencies towards the Collective West. Sure, you can have moderate bilateral relationships with Collective West countries. But to fundamentally tie yourself to Collective West countries for defence, economic (financialisation) and emotional reasons, as it does now, is a recipe for societal and economic failure. According to the Harvard University Atlas of Economic Complexity in 2023, Australia's majority exports 84.71%, go to Asian countries, 6.08% go to Europe, and 5.43% to the Americas, with the remaining to Oceania and Africa. Clearly, the vast majority of our trade occurs within our own region, but yet we still have these ridiculous emotional ties to Europe and the United States in particular. With the United States and Europe promoting the idea that our greatest trading partner, the People's Republic of China, is somehow also our greatest military threat. Why? Even the Defence Minister Richard Marles recognises this irony, even though he agrees with it.

“China is our largest trading partner on the-, on the one hand. And-, and it is our biggest source of security anxiety on the other. And that's just-, that is the way the world is.” — Defence Minister Richard Marles

To further emphasise this Collective West emotional idiocy, I will leave you with what is probably my favourite recent quote from a conversation on ABC 7.30 between Sarah Ferguson and Foreign Minister Penny Wong. This occurred on the 12th, regarding this new perspective treaty.

“Sarah Ferguson: Let me just put this to you. So this treaty commits the two countries. If either is threatened to discuss what measures would be taken to deal with those threats? Does that mean potentially deploying Australian military assets, air naval, to defend Indonesia from China?

Penny Wong: What it means is that we are giving a commitment to one another as neighbours, to consult with each other, to work together and to cooperate. That's what it means.”