Australian Defence Minister Reveals Plans to Utilise Military Facilities in Morotai
Jakarta – Australia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Donald Marles has identified opportunities for his country to utilise Indonesia’s international military training facilities, which will be constructed in Morotai, North Maluku – a former Japanese military base during World War II.
“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 South Jakarta on Thursday, 12 March 2026. He made the statement following his meeting with Indonesian Defence Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin at the Ministry of Defence in Central Jakarta on Thursday morning.
During the meeting, the defence ministers of both countries discussed the implementation of the Australia-Indonesia Joint Security Treaty signed in February 2026. They also reviewed the Australia-Indonesia Defence Cooperation Agreement signed in August 2024.
One key discussion point concerned Australia’s plan to send a military survey team to Morotai Island by the end of 2026 to assess potential cooperation in developing infrastructure for Indonesia’s military training facility. “We will be sending a military survey team to Morotai Island to examine how we can undertake more infrastructure work there, at a training facility that is very important to the TNI,” Marles explained.
According to Marles, the training facility belongs to Indonesia and will be used for training Indonesian armed forces. However, Marles did not rule out the possibility of Australian military personnel training at the facility.
“This will be an Indonesian-owned facility and we are considering how we can use each other’s training facilities – this has been an important part of discussions between our two defence forces,” he stated.
Australia also possesses extensive training areas within its territory. Marles accordingly invited Indonesia to send TNI members and utilise these Australian training areas. “We have seen this type of cooperation happen over the past few years. I think this is an opportunity for Australia going forward to see Morotai developed in this way, but this facility will primarily be a training facility for Indonesia,” he said.
He reiterated that Australia’s involvement in developing the military training facility in Morotai would be limited to infrastructure matters. “The Defence Minister is very keen to involve us in this matter, in the things we can do to support the infrastructure that needs to be developed in Morotai. This is largely led by Indonesia, but we see this as a significant opportunity for us as well,” Marles stated.