Anthony Albanese’s government pledges $2billion green energy investment fund for South East Asia during a cost of living crisis

Anthony Albanese is facing criticism after announcing a $2 billion green energy investment fund for South East Asia as Australia continues to face a crippling cost of living crisis.

While the government presents the huge sum as an investment in Australia’s economic future by helping a huge trading partner grow, many see it as money better spent at home rather than on green initiatives such as wind farms abroad.

“How about we give some of that money to lower and middle class Australians,” one angry person wrote on social media.

“That two dollar bill would be better spent cleaning up the crime in Northern Australia, Albo and especially Alice Springs,” wrote another.

But the Prime Minister defended the move on Tuesday afternoon, saying the $2 billion will lead to “new investment (and) jobs here in Australia”.

“The reason why we engage in international trade is because it is in our national interest.”

The government said the $2 billion Southeast Asia Investment Finance Facility will be managed by Export Finance Australia and provide loans, guarantees, equity and insurance for projects that would boost Australian trade and investment.

In particular, it aims to support the ‘clean energy transition and infrastructure development’ in the region.

“Australia’s economic future lies in our region,” Albanese said.

“I am proud to lead an administration that strengthens our trade and investment ties with Southeast Asia, directly contributing to our shared economic prosperity.”

He added: “When our region prospers, Australia prospers. Our international work delivers results for Australians – for jobs, for our economy and for our people.”

Simon Birmingham, the shadow foreign secretary, agreed that Australia’s relations with the ten countries that make up the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and East Timor, which is on its way to joining close, are crucial for ‘regional stability and stability’. welfare’.

“We face enormous opportunities in this region in terms of the potential for further economic growth, which could further lift people out of poverty across the region,” he told ABC Radio Melbourne.

Australia is setting up a $2 billion green energy investment fund for Southeast Asia. The wind farm system in Khao Kho district, Phetchabun, Thailand is pictured

He said the ASEAN summit currently being held in Melbourne “provides opportunities for Australia and its trade and investment ties with fast-growing South East Asian economies”.

“But it is also critical in terms of how we meet the challenges in our region, the increasing use of influence and power, military and otherwise, by China, and the need for us to work with Southeast Asian countries to keep our region open (and ) stable,” he said.

Mr Albanese said the investment he announced in Melbourne was “the most significant upgrade to Australia’s economic engagement with South East Asia in a generation”.

“ASEAN countries represent Australia’s second largest two-way trading partner, and they will obviously grow to become the fourth largest economy (in the world) by 2040.”

WHAT IS THE ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS?

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is a political and economic union of 10 countries, founded on August 8, 1967.

The member states are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

East Timor is on its way to becoming a member of ASEAN.

The ten current Member States represent a population of more than 600 million people on a land area of ​​4.5 million square kilometers.

Australia’s two-way trade with ASEAN amounted to $178 billion in 2022, accounting for 15 percent of Australia’s trade.

This is greater than Australia’s trade with Japan or the US.

The ten member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations are depicted