Australian Defence Minister Eyes Military Training Cooperation at Morotai
Jakarta — Australia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles has identified opportunities for Australia to utilise Indonesia’s planned international military training facility, which will be constructed in Morotai, North Maluku.
“This is an Indonesian training facility, but we see an opportunity for Australia to be involved in training there,” Marles said during a press conference at the Australian Embassy in Jakarta on Thursday.
He made the statement following his meeting with Indonesian Defence Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin in Jakarta on Thursday, as part of his visit to Indonesia this week.
During the meeting, the defence ministers of both countries discussed follow-up actions on the Australia-Indonesia Mutual Security Treaty, signed in February 2026, and the Australia-Indonesia Defence Cooperation Agreement, signed in August 2024.
“We will send a military survey team to Morotai Island to examine how we can undertake further infrastructure work there, at the training facility that is very important to the TNI (Indonesian Armed Forces),” he explained.
Marles emphasised that the training facility is Indonesian-owned and will serve as a military training facility for the Indonesian armed forces. However, he did not rule out the possibility of Australian forces training at the facility.
“This will be an Indonesian-owned facility and we are considering how we can use training facilities in partnership with each other, which has been an important part of discussions between our two defence forces,” he explained.
“We have seen such cooperation occur over the past several years. I believe this is an opportunity for Australia going forward to see Morotai developed in this way, but this location will primarily be a training facility for Indonesia,” he said.
He reiterated that Australia’s involvement in developing the military training facility in Morotai is specifically in the infrastructure sector.
“He (Defence Minister Sjafrie) is very keen to involve us in this matter, in ways that we can support the infrastructure that needs to be developed in Morotai. This is largely led by Indonesia, but we see this as a great opportunity for us as well,” Defence Minister Marles said.