Your Excellency, President José Ramos-Horta.
Your Excellency, Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão.
Your Excellency, President of the National Parliament of Timor-Leste, Maria Fernanda Lay.
Ministers, Vice Ministers and Secretaries of State of the Government of Timor-Leste.
And Members of the National Parliament of Timor-Leste.
Boatarde.
Thank you for your warm welcome, and for granting me the great honour of addressing your Parliament, the heart of your proud democracy.
Timor-Leste is a magnificent country, and Dili is a magnificent city.
Set within a landscape of such deep natural beauty and positioned on the edge of a shining sea.
From this building, Timor-Leste looks out toward a horizon of opportunity.
Out toward Southeast Asia and the Indo-Pacific, out toward our shared place in the world.
For Australia and Timor Leste, our geography makes us neighbours.
Our history and our values make us friends.
And as we look out together on the same region – we look towards a shared future.
A new deeper partnership in security, in energy and economic resilience.
Our connection goes back a long way.
In the Second World War, Australian diggers led the Allied forces in the Battle of Timor.
But it was the Timorese people who helped them to survive – and to resist.
Guiding and sheltering Australian troops.
Shaping a battle plan for the unforgiving jungle and mountain terrain so alien to the Australian forces, who were mainly drawn from Western Australia and Tasmania.
And of course, it was also the Timorese who fought.
Who took up arms alongside us in a nearly yearlong guerrilla campaign.
Australians and Timorese serving – side by side – with valour and honour.
Standing together in the cause of peace – and in defence of their home.
One Australian soldier spoke for all his brothers in his arms, when he said of the Timorese:
“They were so good…they risked their lives all the time for us”.
50,000 Timorese would lose their lives in that conflict.
Many young Australians suffered as prisoners of war, including my mentor Tom Uren.
In 1945, with victory in sight but Timor still under Japanese occupation.
Australian planes dropped leaflets that carried a simple, heartfelt message:
“Your friends do not forget you”.
As the Prime Minister of Australia, I say to you today and to the courageous Timorese people you represent:
Your Australian friends will never forget you.
Honourable Members,
Just as Australians and Timorese stood together to defend peace and sovereignty in our region in 1942, so too we came together in 1999, when your nation reflected on the question of its independence.
It was Australia’s proud position to support that referendum process and to help restore peace in the troubled times that followed.
Those 5,500 Australian Defence Force personnel – led so ably by Sir Peter Cosgrove – represented Australia’s largest overseas military deployment since the Vietnam War.
Then, in 2006, Australia led the International Stabilisation Force in Timor-Leste.
Along with others, we committed to restoring and maintaining the stability and the democratic way of life Timorese people themselves had sought for so long.
Standing shoulder to shoulder, again, with the proud people of this nation.
I know that for many – including members here today – the events of those years are bound up with difficult memories of violence and repression.
But I do not raise these struggles to emphasise the dark.
It is quite the opposite.
Because what that history shows is that in dark times, it is our friendship and our innate respect for each other, for democracy and for sovereignty that will prevail.
Indeed, history holds hard truths for all of us.
We have a responsibility to acknowledge them – and to learn from them.
In the past, some actions taken by Australian Governments did not honour – and were not worthy – of the close friendship between our nations.
But it is the firm resolve of the Labor Government I lead – and the Australian people I serve – that peace, mutual respect and shared prosperity continue to be the guiding principles of our shared future.
It is important to shape that future with words, but also with actions.
That’s why Australia strongly supported Timor-Leste’s accession to ASEAN as its 11th full member at the ASEAN Summit in Malaysia last year.
That is a milestone which speaks for Timor-Leste’s deepening engagement in this, the fastest growing region of the world in human history.
And it is an achievement which will stand in tribute to the personal leadership and advocacy of Prime Minister Gusmão.
Australia will work with Timor-Leste to continue to strengthen your standing as Asia’s youngest nation and as ASEAN’s newest democracy.
Because we know that over the years ahead, our resilience, our security, our prosperity and our destiny lies here, in Southeast Asia.
That’s why we proudly provided funding to help realise the goal of ASEAN membership through our Technical Assistance and Capacity Building package.
Today I announce we will contribute a further $8.2 million to this package, bringing total funding to $20 million.
An investment in Timor-Leste’s place in the Southeast Asian community of nations.
Furthering friendships, deepening dialogue and advancing shared interests, all while ensuring Timor-Leste’s autonomy and economic advancement.
But to do that, we need to be looking to build.
To integrate and strengthen our economic ties and therefore our shared economic resilience.
It is those priorities that remain the focus of our partnership across the board.
Together, we are building on Timor-Leste’s comparative advantages and strengthening Timor as a growing market for Australia.
Facilitating hundreds of millions of dollars of bilateral trade in sectors spanning resources, financial services, shipping and manufacturing.
Because fostering relationships in key growing industries is so important.
That is why I am proud Australia is investing $80 million in a new private sector development program for small and medium business in Timor-Leste.
Supporting Timorese entrepreneurs to develop their businesses, boost their access to markets, amplify their production and strengthen their know-how.
Because it is by fostering commerce and investment that we see tangible benefits for the people we represent and serve.
That is precisely what Australia wants the Greater Sunrise project to deliver.
Lasting, long-term economic security for workers, energy security for industry and new prosperity for Timor-Leste.
All while helping power the growth, stability and security of our region.
The Greater Sunrise Project is a natural partnership, in the service of those shared goals.
Today I am pleased to announce that a total 10 per cent of States Revenue of any future Greater Sunrise project between our two nations will be used to establish a dedicated infrastructure fund to fortify Timor-Leste’s economic resilience and grow opportunity for its people.
The fund will be drawn entirely from the Australian share of the Greater Sunrise project, and would represent at least a third of Australia’s future revenue.
We make this commitment because Australia wants to see investment in this nation.
In its people and its jobs.
In the growth and sustainability of what Prime Minister Gusmão has called Timor-Leste’s “Blue Economy.”
We do this because we know sharing opportunities for economic growth is fundamental to improving the lives of our citizens – while strengthening the stability and prosperity of our region.
Friends,
As legislators and leaders, we know there is nothing more crucial to our national success than investing in the skills and wellbeing of our people.
Making a positive difference in the lives of our citizens so they can flourish, achieve their goals and contribute to their country.
We recognise the aspiration in Timor-Leste to build workforces and develop skills.
We share that aspiration too.
That’s why programs like the Pacific-Australia Labour Mobility Scheme are so important.
It represents a partnership between our two nations.
Providing employment, wages and skills for Timorese, who in turn become an indispensable aspect of the Australian economy, workforce and indeed – the Australian community.
As of October 2025, more than 5,000 Timorese workers chose Australia as their home away from home.
And Timorese citizens have taken part in more than 20,000 labour mobility assignments in Australia since Timor-Leste joined these programs in 2012.
And that participation is important.
Because by fostering greater interaction between our two peoples, we will build the links to carry our relationship forward into the future.
And just as investment in skills and jobs are crucial, so too is investment in the well-being of the Timorese people.
In this pursuit, Timor-Leste will always find a partner in Australia, ready to unleash this nation’s great reservoir of potential.
That’s why I am proud of our commitment of up to $220 million to a human development program in Timor-Leste.
Focusing on strengthening primary health services, along with nutrition, literacy and numeracy for all Timorese people, and improving support to people with disabilities to reach their full potential.
And it’s why we are increasing our annual Overseas Development Assistance funding to over $135 million in 2025-26.
We want to help invigorate opportunity, build capacity and find new ways for Timor-Leste to flourish at home and in the region.
Friends,
We recognise that for generations, the people of this nation have endured immense struggles in pursuit of their political and economic independence.
Many have fought to assert their right to determine their own future path – one that is defined by hope and growth.
Australia – as both a security and a development partner – will always honour that independence, and seek to bolster and protect Timorese sovereignty.
Because we recognise that the progress of our region – of our peoples – can only be fully realised when we prioritise cooperation.
It is that same spirit of cooperation which underpins the agreement Prime Minister Gusmão and I signed today.
Our Parseria Foun ba Era Foun which is Tetum for a ‘New Partnership for a New Era.’
It is a touchstone, outlining our shared commitment to continuing cooperation and consultation, and our mutual respect for national sovereignty.
It reflects our collective vision of a peaceful, stable and prosperous region and commits our governments to regular communication and collaboration on common security interests.
And importantly, it simply reaffirms how we see each other.
Not just as partners – but as equal partners.
One leader to another.
One democracy to another.
One people to another.
Working together in the interests of peace and prosperity, recognising that it is from those two aspects, that our economic resilience is born.
Honourable Members,
For thousands of years the peoples of our two nations have looked up to the same patch of sky to see the same stars.
Through our shared history, we have fought and died together.
We have advocated for democracy, peace and prosperity.
We have extended our hands to a neighbour that has extend theirs.
And as we gather here now and look across those same blue waters of Southeast Asia and the beautiful Indo-Pacific toward that horizon of opportunity, we see a bright sun rising.
It is the future we will share together.
Obrigado wain.
Thank you very much.