Indonesia presents WA with some big opportunities. Will the government be able to take them?
For most Australians, the opportunities presented by Indonesia don't stretch much further than Bali.
But the reality is that WA's closest neighbour, with a population 10 times larger than Australia's, has so much more to offer.
An expanding population is helping fuel a rapidly growing economy, offering a prime opportunity for others to ride Indonesia's rise to be one of the world's top five economies within the next few decades.
And the timing couldn't be better, with the WA government still struggling to diversify its economy away from iron ore and China – something Indonesia provides the perfect antidote to.
Diverse business opportunities? Check.
Growing population and an increasingly large middle class? Check.
Students looking for opportunities to study overseas? Check.
But so far, WA has largely been missing out.
As of August, Indonesia was Australia's eighth largest export market – behind places like the US, Singapore, Thailand and South Korea, but still ahead of another country considered to be a major opportunity, India.
Our biggest exports to Indonesia last year were petroleum, iron ore and wheat, used to make things like instant noodles.
Of the $3.8 billion that gets traded between the country and WA, the vast majority is flowing south, rather than the other way.
It's something Indonesia is reportedly keen to change to create more of a two-way partnership.
One of the big reasons for the current situation is that business in Indonesia, like many Asian countries, relies heavily on relationships.
Relationships both sides haven't always been great at building.
Issues around live cattle exports, both in 2011 and in recent weeks certainly haven't helped.
Ross Taylor has spent decades trying to develop WA's relationship with Indonesia, including as the WA Government's Commissioner to the nation, and says the biggest change that's needed is shifting the way both sides work together.
"Unless we do that, and we just simply keep that so-called transactional relationship, it will always be fragile," he said.
"We now need to move from that very transactional mindset to one of how do we build partnerships?
"And that's going to mean getting to know Indonesians much more and getting rid of that notion that they are the strangers next door."
It's clearly been a focus for Roger Cook, who retained the portfolio of state development after he became premier.
He's been to Indonesia three times in the last year, including now as premier, to try and build those important bonds which he hopes will in time turn into economic growth.
On his latest visit this week for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Business and Investment Summit, he took what's been described as the state's largest ever trade delegation.
"I don't think we've previously appreciated the importance of coming back time and time again to build those relationships," he told a forum at the event.
"Because the familiarity around those relationships is what I think drives confidence."
The end goal is clear.
What's not as simple is how to get there, and everyone has their own ideas.
The government is focusing on building business relationships in areas like critical minerals – because WA has basically everything needed to build batteries for EVs, and Indonesia has an appetite to manufacture those batteries.
Sharing mining technology is an area energy minister Bill Johnston was keen to explore.
"They're on islands, we're in remote parts of the state, but it's the same challenge: providing reliable power, reliable water services in remote locations," he said on his return.
"We believe we've got the right skills and technology to work together with Indonesia to overcome their challenges in the energy sector in eastern Indonesia."
Liberal leader Libby Mettam wants to see a dedicated Indonesian trade commissioner re-established to help foster better relationships between businesses and governments.
The government scrapped positions like that in the years after taking power, instead establishing smaller teams in each country led by commissioners representing regions, not just individual countries.
A recent parliamentary inquiry into the relationship made 20 recommendations, including establishing the trade commissioner the opposition wants to see, developing better branding and expanding Indonesian language studies in WA schools.
The education department says while the number of students studying Indonesian dipped around 2015, it’s been growing since, with 38,969 learning the language last year.
But Mr Taylor said students aren’t studying the language further, including at university, because of the answer to one question.
"Will that translate into jobs? And the answer is in Western Australia, no it won't," he said.
"Business here sees Indonesia as the strangers next door, someone we just want to sell things to rather than to embrace them [as a partner].
"There needs to be a community mindset change about our neighbours to the north whereby we not only embrace the learning of the language and understanding of the culture, but we take the whole relationship to a deeper level where employers start, for example, to look at having Indonesian business people on their boards, to employ them."
It's that which will be key to leveraging the doors the premier and his team have been helping open over the last week.
"If WA makes the same level of investment in Indonesia as it does in WA's more traditional trading partners, it is likely that the Indonesian investment will result in greater returns because of the country's rising economy and close proximity to WA," the parliamentary inquiry's chair, Peter Tinley, wrote in his report.
"A similar level of return is not achievable if we wait – WA needs to invest in the relationship now or risk playing 'catch up' in the future."
Amid dozens of competing priorities, the focus Roger Cook and his team place on Indonesia in the months and years ahead will be a good measure of just how seriously his government takes that opportunity.
And if he plays his cards right, it might help him do what few before him have been able to do – make a meaningful push towards diversifying the state's economy.
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