Summary - Australia’s Southeast Asia strategy: Guidance for what comes next

A useful starting point for discussing Australian engagements with Southeast Asia – despite regular suggestions to the contrary – is that these are mostly vibrant, multi-faceted and very successful relationships. Australia commits fully to its official and informal diplomacy, arrangements that are reciprocated from Dili to Hanoi and Vientiane to Manila. While there are still calls for more activity, especially in business, education and two-way investment, today’s reality is that Australia’s partnerships across Southeast Asia are busy and increasingly comprehensive.

Nonetheless, there are pressing questions about the overall Southeast Asia strategy that Australia should pursue for the 2030s. Using illustrations from government, civil society, universities, and the business community, Professor Farrelly will present forward-looking guidance for how Australian strategic policy can adjust to Southeast Asia’s relentlessly competitive landscape. By carefully assessing the strengths of recent policy, in Australia and elsewhere, he will argue that a longer-term shift in Australian strategic culture and posture is required. Professor Farrelly will emphasise that at this time of such global turbulence, Australia has the chance to more boldly address the persistent issues facing any coherent and sustainable Southeast Asia strategy.

Professor Nicholas Farrelly is a Pro Vice-Chancellor at the University of Tasmania, where he is responsible for the wide-ranging Arts and Society portfolio, which includes the Conservatorium of Music, School of Creative and Performing Arts, Law School, School of Education, and School of Humanities and Social Sciences.

As a researcher, he specialises in the study of political, cultural and strategic issues in Southeast Asia. In 2024 he was lead author for the Australian government-supported report, Comprehensive Strategic Partners: Australia and ASEAN after the first 50 years. In 2026 he is leading the University of Tasmania team that will help deliver the new Westpac Australia-Asia Fellowship program, with components in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam.

A graduate of the Australian National University and the University of Oxford, where he was a Rhodes Scholar, Nicholas is a member of the ASEAN-Australia Centre’s inaugural Advisory Board and Deputy Chair of the Board of Australia’s National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters.

Earlier in his career, Nicholas held academic leadership positions at the Australian National University, including as Associate Dean in the College of Asia and the Pacific. He was also previously Director of the ANU Myanmar Research Centre and Deputy Director of the Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs.