This article was published in Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) News on 10 Mar 2023.
It's a powerhouse region, with more than 600 million people spread across 11 countries, which as a bloc, is one of the largest economies in the world.
But is Australia getting South-East Asia all wrong?
"We really mattered [there] a few decades ago. And we matter less now," Professor Tony Milner, the director of Asialink at the University of Melbourne and a veteran observer of the region, tells ABC RN's Saturday Extra.
He warns that as Australia keeps turning its gaze away from South-East Asia, we're missing out on big economic, political and cultural benefits.
An 'extraordinary range of countries'
South-East Asia is made up of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam (which together form the Association of South-East Asian Nations, or ASEAN) and Timor-Leste.
Last Update: 20/03/2023