Page 716 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 19 March 2019
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Whilst somewhat different in size, our cities have much in common. Both are responsible for delivering state and municipal services for our respective communities whilst also being the national capitals, with the unique challenges that we all know this entails. Jakarta and Canberra are also both home to their countries’ number one university. It was therefore a pleasure and a high priority to meet with Governor Baswedan. We had a good discussion on a range of issues, from the delivery of government services and town planning to smart cities and integrated public transport. We particularly focused on the opportunities to further the relationship between our two cities through education.
The governor is particularly interested in teacher exchanges for Jakarta school principals, teachers and administrators. An exchange program presents the ACT with opportunities for our teachers to gain an appreciation of the Indonesian context; so we will now explore this as part of a wider program of exchanges with our priority country partners. I look forward to the relationship between Canberra and Jakarta deepening over time through this initiative and any others that may flow from our discussions on this trip.
Finally, through two networking events facilitated by Austrade, our delegation had the opportunity to meet with targeted stakeholders from the education and healthcare sectors to discuss current and emerging opportunities in areas like online and vocational education, e-health and allied health workforce development. The challenges Indonesia faces in these areas are significant. For example, in order to meet the WHO’s recommended nurse to population ratio, Indonesia will need to train almost one million more nurses just to meet current population levels. Some of the education leaders I met also pointed out that Indonesia needs to graduate around 600,000 ICT students each year to meet the demand for workers with these skills.
These events, facilitated by Austrade, provided an opportunity to better understand the challenges that specific Indonesian sectors face and to connect key people with counterparts in Canberra who can help with possible solutions. I am pleased to note that, since we got back from the mission, one of the participants has already visited Canberra and met with the Commissioner for International Engagement to discuss further business opportunities.
The mission was an important step in strengthening our relationship with Indonesia and growing partnerships between the tertiary education sectors in our two countries. With education services currently contributing around half of our total service exports, there are clear advantages to focusing our efforts on this important growth market. Partnering with Indonesia to meet the country’s training needs will help this important sector to grow so that it can keep creating more good local jobs. It also benefits our local institutions by opening up new perspectives, new opportunities for research and new connections with our region.
Finally, Madam Assistant Speaker, some thanks. The Indonesian embassy in Canberra, as always, was extremely helpful in organising meetings and providing support for the mission. I particularly thank the ambassador for his assistance. He is a great friend of Canberra. I also acknowledge the support provided to the delegation by the Australian
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