Heru Andriyanto, Jakarta – President Prabowo Subianto on Sunday called Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to congratulate him on his reelection and expressed his commitment to deepening bilateral ties, particularly in the face of global economic headwinds sparked by sweeping US tariff hikes.
With Albanese remaining in office, bilateral negotiations on trade and defense cooperation are expected to continue without disruption.
"President Prabowo Subianto personally conveyed his congratulations to Anthony Albanese on his reelection as Prime Minister of Australia," Cabinet Secretary Teddy Indra Wijaya said in a statement.
Indonesia is currently strengthening trade engagement with key partners such as Australia and the European Union to mitigate the potential impact of declining exports to the United States, following steep tariff increases imposed by President Donald Trump.
Last month, Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto said that Australia had agreed to expand imports of Indonesian goods during a meeting with Australian Trade Minister Don Farrell.
Indonesia has also requested Australia's support in gaining broader access to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), as Jakarta seeks to strengthen trade ties with Mexico and other South American markets.
While Indonesia's exports to Australia rose 56 percent year-on-year to $4.95 billion in 2024, the country still recorded a trade deficit of $5.49 billion with its southern neighbor.
To bolster financial cooperation, the two countries renewed their bilateral currency swap agreement in March, extending it for another five years. The deal allows Bank Indonesia (BI) and the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) to exchange up to 10 billion Australian dollars – or about $6.2 billion – enabling local currency settlements and reducing reliance on the US dollar.
In August 2024, while still serving as defense minister ahead of his inauguration as president, Prabowo visited Canberra to finalize negotiations that upgraded Indonesia-Australia defense cooperation to a treaty-level agreement.
"I greatly value the friendship between our nations, and Indonesia will always remember Australia as one of the first countries to support our independence in the 1940s," Prabowo said at the time. "I am committed to fostering an even closer relationship with our neighbor."
The two leaders met again on November 14, 2024, during the APEC forum in Lima, Peru. At the time, Prabowo reaffirmed Indonesia's long-standing relationship with Australia, saying: "Australia is a very good friend of Indonesia. As neighbors, we sometimes have our ups and downs, but we will remain neighbors forever."
Albanese's center-left Labor Party won an emphatic victory in elections on Saturday. As vote counting continued, the government was on track to win at least 85 seats in the 150-seat House of Representatives, the lower chamber where parties need a majority to form an administration.
Labor held 78 seats in the previous Parliament, and gaining seats in a second term is rare in Australian politics.
"The Australian people voted for unity rather than division," Albanese told reporters in the crowded cafe in inner-suburban Leichhardt where he and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, gathered with colleagues and supporters for coffee on Sunday.
"We'll be a disciplined, orderly government in our second term, just like we have been in our first," he added.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers, the government's top economic minister, explained the election result as voters seeking stability after US President Donald Trump's tariff disruptions to the global economy.
"This was beyond even our most optimistic expectations," Chalmers told Australian Broadcasting Corp. of the election result.
"We know that this second term has been given to us by the Australian people because they want stability in uncertain times," he added.
Australian election result reminiscent of Canada
In an election result reminiscent of Canada's recent contest, conservative opposition leader Peter Dutton lost his parliamentary seat. His alliance of parties was reduced to 37 seats.
Canada's opposition leader, Pierre Poilievre, lost his seat after Trump declared economic war on the US neighbor. Poilievre had previously been regarded as a shoo-in to become Canada's next prime minister and shepherd his Conservative Party back into power for the first time in a decade.
Senior Australian lawmakers say they feared late last year they would become the first government to be tossed out after a single three-year term since the turmoil of the Great Depression in 1931.
Like the center-left Canadian government, the Australian government had linked their political opponents to Trump's administration and its Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Australia was hit during the five-week election campaign with 10 percent tariffs on exports to the United States despite trading with its bilateral free trade partner at a deficit for decades.
Opposition leader branded 'DOGE-y Dutton'
The opposition leader was branded "DOGE-y Dutton," and Labor warned that a Dutton government would slash public sector services to pay for seven government-funded nuclear power plants.
Labor said Dutton never campaigned at any of the proposed power plant sites and argued the conservatives realized that nuclear reactors were not popular. There is no nuclear power generation in Australia.
Labor also accused Dutton of igniting culture wars. While Albanese stands before the Australian flag and two Indigenous flags at media announcements, Dutton had said that as prime minister, he would only stand in front of the national flag.
Indigenous Australians account for 4 percent of the population and are the nation's most disadvantaged ethnic minority.