CANBERRA — Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong will deliver a historic address to the Australian Parliament on Wednesday (Oct 12) while on an official visit to Canberra to attend an inaugural annual leaders’ summit held under the ambit of a landmark strategic partnership agreement between the two countries.

During his three-day visit starting on Tuesday, Mr Lee will receive an official welcome ceremony on Wednesday at Parliament House and hold separate meetings with Governor-General Peter Cosgrove, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Leader of the Opposition Bill Shorten, and Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory Andrew Barr. Mr Turnbull will host Mr Lee to an official luncheon at the Great Hall of Parliament House.

“Prime Minister Lee will deliver an address to the Australian Parliament; the first such address by a Singapore Prime Minister,” said a statement by the Prime Minister’s Office on Monday.  

The two prime ministers will witness the signing of several agreements on trade, innovation and science and combatting transnational drug crime as well as on military training and training area development in Australia. 

These agreements stem from a package of initiatives finalised in May this year under the bilateral Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP), which also mandates that the prime ministers of both countries hold annual summits. 

With the new agreement on military training, the Singapore Armed Forces will be able to train in Australia for 18 weeks with 14,000 troops per year. This arrangement will last for 25 years. The current arrangement allows 6,600 troops to train in Australia for six weeks a year. 

Singapore and Australia will also jointly develop military training areas and facilities in Queensland. When the joint development is completed, the SAF will have access to training areas in Australia around 10 times the size of Singapore. This will include the SAF’s existing training area at the Shoalwater Bay Training Area.

Singapore and Australia enjoy long-standing, multi-faceted ties, with cooperation that spans the political, economic, defence, culture and the arts, and people-to-people spheres. Both countries are politically like-minded and share a similar strategic outlook.

Australia is an important economic partner for Singapore. Last year, bilateral trade amounted to S$20.2 billion. Australia was Singapore’s 12th-largest trading partner in 2015, while Singapore was Australia’s fifth-largest trading partner in 2014. Singapore is Australia’s fifth-largest foreign investor, with direct investment Down Under reaching S$43.5 billion in 2014. 

Both sides also share close military ties. The SAF conducts unilateral training in Australia. Both armed forces also cooperate closely in multilateral forums such as the Five Power Defence Arrangements and the Association of South-east Asian Nations (Asean) Defence Ministers’ meetings with dialogue partners.  

Last June, both sides signed a joint declaration on a CSP to deepen economic integration, expand defence cooperation, promote innovation and entrepreneurship, and strengthen people-to-people ties. 

In May this year, Canberra and Singapore announced a new package of bilateral cooperation initiatives spanning various areas to operationalise the CSP. 

“Successive governments in Canberra have seen Singapore as Australia’s most reliable relationship in South-east Asia and a key country in Asean with very similar strategic concerns and outlook as Australia,” said Dr Malcolm Cook, a senior fellow at the Iseas-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore.

Dr Cook pointed out that one of the first things that Mr Turnbull did after he assumed office in September last year was to send Mr Cosgrove to Singapore to signal that Australia was fully committed to completing the CSP.

“The (Australian) Prime Minister views Singapore as a trusted and reliable partner across a broad spectrum of issues — economics, politics, diplomacy, security and defence,” added Professor Carl Thayer of the Australian Defence Force Academy.

Mr Lee will be accompanied by his wife Madam Ho Ching, Minister for Trade and Industry Mr Lim Hng Kiang, Minister for Defence Dr Ng Eng Hen, Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, and Members of Parliament Dr Lily Neo and Mr Zaqy Mohamad.

While in Canberra, Mr Lee will also lay a wreath at the Australian War Memorial and meet Singaporeans at a reception at the Singapore High Commission in Canberra.  

During Mr Lee’s absence, Mr Teo Chee Hean, Deputy Prime Minister and Coordinating Minister for National Security will be Acting Prime Minister.