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“More small (Australian) businesses go to Fiji than Indonesia. I think Indonesia has traditionally been a closed market,” says Tim Harcourt, chief economist at the University of Technology Sydney. “Generally Indonesia is a bit like the United States or Brazil – they think about the domestic market first rather than a place like, say, Singapore, that’s very much open to trade and investment from the global economies.<\/p>\n
“Indonesia was never this low labour cost place that China, Vietnam and Bangladesh were. Indonesia’s all about being a large middle class [that’s fuelling] a domestic economy.”<\/p>\n
But that could all be about to change if Jennifer Matthews has her way.<\/p>\n
She’s the national president of the Australia-Indonesia Business Council and is evangelising on Indonesia’s new openness in a travelling roadshow across Australia in partnership with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT).<\/p>\n
It has visited Darwin in the Northern Territory, which is closer to Jakarta (2,700km) than it is to Canberra (3,100km), and will soon head to Sydney to promote the digital economy.<\/p>\n
“The time is right,” she says of accelerating Australian trade with Indonesia to boost jobs in the post-pandemic recovery. “There is definitely an opportunity to grow this relationship. We can see the transformational change that is taking place in Indonesia right on our doorstep.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n