Inter-Departmental Roundtable on FTA Modernisation and Critical Mineral Supply Chains

Meeting Packet for Participants | Project: Options for FTA Modernisation to Strengthen Critical Mineral Supply Chains for the Indo-Pacific Green Economy Transition (UNSW-DFAT project) | December 2025

Meeting Logistics

Date: Sunday, 8 December 2025

Time: 9:30 AM - 3:15 PM

Venue: UNSW Canberra, Room SR03

Expected Participants: 15-20 Director-level representatives from Commonwealth Departments and agencies, facilitated by UNSW Centre for Sustainable Development Reform

Agenda

9:30-10:00 | Welcome Coffee & Registration (30 minutes)

Informal arrival, coffee, and networking

10:00-11:45 | Session 1: Barriers and Opportunities Across Portfolios (105 minutes)

Purpose: Understand practical barriers you encounter in Southeast Asian markets and identify common challenges

What barriers do Australian businesses and agencies face when operating in Southeast Asian markets? Which countries present the biggest challenges or opportunities? Where do critical minerals supply chains intersect with your portfolio?

11:45-12:30 | Lunch Break (45 minutes)

12:30-1:45 | Session 2: What's Working and What Isn't (75 minutes)

Purpose: Learn from your experience with regional cooperation frameworks and identify what needs improvement

What cooperation mechanisms with Southeast Asian partners have worked well? What persistent challenges remain? Where has cross-government coordination been effective?

1:45-2:00 | Break (15 minutes)

2:00-2:45 | Session 3: Priorities for Improvement (45 minutes)

Purpose: Identify priority areas where stronger regional frameworks could advance your policy objectives

If you could change one thing about how Australia engages with Southeast Asian partners in your domain, what would deliver the greatest value? What policy objectives could be advanced through stronger cooperation? What flexibility must be preserved?

2:45-3:15 | Session 4: Next Steps and Coordination (30 minutes)

Purpose: Establish process for reviewing draft recommendations

How UNSW will translate your input into FTA modernisation recommendations, timeline for Departmental review of draft Technical Paper (January), and coordination for ongoing engagement.

About This Roundtable

What We're Asking From You

We want your sector expertise on practical challenges and opportunities in Southeast Asian markets. You don't need FTA technical knowledge - that's our job. We want to understand:

• What you're trying to achieve in Southeast Asian markets (policy objectives, business facilitation, regulatory cooperation)
• What's blocking progress (regulatory barriers, standards issues, investment restrictions, coordination challenges)
• What would help (mechanisms that could advance your objectives while preserving necessary flexibility)

UNSW translates your insights into specific FTA modernisation options for DFAT. Your role is to share your domain expertise; our role is to analyze how trade agreements could address the barriers you identify.

Project Context: Critical Minerals and Cross-Sectoral Lessons

Australia's transition to net-zero and the Indo-Pacific green economy transition both depend on secure critical minerals supply chains. Southeast Asia is central to this - major mineral deposits, growing processing capacity, and strategic location - but significant barriers limit integration.

This project uses critical minerals as a "pathfinder": We're conducting detailed analysis of barriers in this complex, high-priority sector, then testing whether solutions and patterns apply to agriculture, green economy, and other sectors. This approach focuses resources efficiently while identifying cross-cutting opportunities.

Why your portfolio matters - even if not minerals-focused:

• DCCEEW: Renewable energy manufacturing depends on minerals processing; sustainability frameworks affect both minerals certification and agricultural exports
• DAFF: Standards harmonization challenges in agriculture mirror minerals certification issues; biosecurity cooperation models may inform regulatory frameworks
• Home Affairs: Critical minerals are critical infrastructure; supply chain security intersects investment screening and border facilitation
• Treasury: Investment frameworks affect minerals projects and broader green economy transition
• Standards Australia: Mutual recognition challenges span minerals, manufacturing, agriculture

We're looking for both minerals-specific insights AND cross-sectoral patterns that inform broader FTA modernisation.

Perspectives from portfolios across the spectrum—from minerals-focused to agriculture, energy, and beyond—will strengthen this project's findings and outcomes. Critical materials and decarbonisation are both domestic policy priorities supported by Southeast Asia engagement AND Southeast Asia engagement priorities themselves. Your insights on these intersections, regardless of your primary portfolio focus, will enrich the analysis and ensure recommendations reflect the full range of policy objectives at stake.

How This Supports Policy Priorities

This roundtable directly supports implementation of Australia's Southeast Asia Economic Strategy to 2040 by identifying practical opportunities to strengthen regional integration where it matters for your portfolios.

Regional frameworks - including but not limited to trade agreements - can serve multiple objectives simultaneously:

• Standards harmonization reduces compliance costs for exporters (all sectors) while supporting supply chain resilience (critical minerals, renewables)
• Sustainability frameworks operationalize climate commitments while enabling green processing and sustainable agriculture
• Investment protections support infrastructure projects while facilitating critical minerals development
• Regulatory cooperation reduces fragmentation while preserving policy space for domestic objectives

This roundtable helps identify where single mechanisms advance multiple Departmental priorities, and where tensions require careful design.

How Your Input Will Be Used

Immediate:

• Consultation Summary (6 December 2025): Cross-departmental priorities synthesized alongside industry and Southeast Asian stakeholder input

January 2026:

• Technical Paper with Model Provisions: UNSW drafts specific FTA modernisation recommendations based on barriers and priorities you identify
• Departmental circulation: You receive draft Technical Paper for review and comment before finalization

February 2026:

• Final Report: Comprehensive recommendations and implementation roadmap incorporating your feedback

Your participation ensures FTA modernisation recommendations are grounded in operational realities and advance genuine cross-portfolio priorities.

Session Purposes and Thinking Points

No preparation required - these are optional prompts if you'd like to reflect beforehand, not homework. Sessions are designed for you to share your operational experience and expertise.

Session 1: Barriers and Opportunities Across Portfolios

Understand the practical barriers you encounter in Southeast Asian markets and where critical minerals intersect with your portfolio.

Thinking points (optional):

• What regulatory, investment, or market access barriers do you encounter in Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Philippines, or Thailand?
• Which countries present the biggest opportunities or challenges for your policy objectives?
• How do critical minerals supply chains intersect with your work? (e.g., renewable energy manufacturing, agricultural inputs, infrastructure security)
• What barriers affect multiple objectives simultaneously?

Session 2: What's Working and What Isn't

Learn from your experience with cooperation mechanisms - formal frameworks, informal coordination, bilateral dialogues - that have advanced or hindered your objectives.

Thinking points (optional):

• What cooperation mechanisms with Southeast Asian partners have worked well for your objectives? (These might be in trade agreements, bilateral frameworks, sectoral dialogues, or informal arrangements)
• What hasn't worked or remains a persistent challenge?
• Examples of successful coordination across Australian government agencies on Southeast Asia engagement?
• What makes cooperation mechanisms effective or ineffective in practice?

Session 3: Priorities for Improvement

Translate insights from Sessions 1-2 into concrete priorities for strengthening regional frameworks.

Thinking points (optional):

• If you could change one thing about how Australia engages with Southeast Asian partners in your domain, what would deliver the greatest value for your objectives?
• What policy objectives could be advanced through stronger regional cooperation frameworks?
• What flexibility or policy space must be preserved as regional integration deepens?
• Which challenges you identified in Session 1 are highest priority to address?
• Where did Sessions 1-2 reveal cross-portfolio opportunities?

Session 4: Next Steps and Coordination

Practical arrangements for how you review and provide feedback on draft recommendations.

Discussion:

• Timeline for Technical Paper circulation (January 2026)
• Format for Departmental review and comment
• Coordination mechanisms if needed for cross-portfolio issues
• Contact arrangements for follow-up questions

Confirmed Attendees

Expected participants: 15-20 Director-level officials and facilitation team

Commonwealth Departments (invited positions)

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT)

• Office of Global Trade Negotiations (2-3 Directors)
• FTA Implementation Branch
• Office of Southeast Asia

Department of Industry, Science and Resources (DISR)

• Director, Critical Minerals Office
• Director, Standards and Conformance Infrastructure

Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW)

• Director, International Climate & Energy
• Director, Renewable Energy Implementation

Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF)

• Director, Trade & Market Access
• Director, Export Standards

Department of Home Affairs

• Director, Critical Infrastructure Security Policy

Treasury

• Director, Foreign Investment Policy

Standards Australia

• Head of International Engagement

UNSW Centre for Sustainable Development Reform (facilitation team)

• Dr. Ben Milligan (Director, CSDR; Lead Facilitator)
• Prof. Iain MacGill (Energy Systems)
• Dr. Dani Alexander (CEO, Energy Institute)
• Dr. Rahman Daiyan (Senior Lecturer, School of Minerals and Energy Resources Engineering)
• Dr. Michelle Vaqueiro Contreras (Senior Research Fellow, UNSW Energy Institute)
• Edoardo Santagata (Research Associate, virtual participation)

Contact and Questions

For questions about the roundtable or project, please contact:

Dr. Ben Milligan Director, Centre for Sustainable Development Reform University of New South Wales b.milligan@unsw.edu.au

DFAT Project Coordination FTA Modernisation FTAmodernisation@dfat.gov.au