The details of the agreement were tightly held by a small group of officials until the last moment, preventing them from being leaked to the media.
The treaty falls short of a formal military alliance, meaning it is not as extensive as that reached earlier this year between Australia and Papua New Guinea.
But it is still a significant foreign policy moment given Indonesia’s huge population, economic heft and military power.
It will commit the leaders of Australia and Indonesia to regularly discuss security issues and consult each other in the event of a threat to either nation’s security or a mutual threat to consider what actions should be taken in response.
The agreement also commits the nations to agree to promote “mutually beneficial co-operative activities in the security field”.
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Albanese said he hoped to travel to Indonesia in January to sign the pact after it is approved by both national parliaments.
Prabowo said the agreement will “let us face our destiny with the best of intentions”, adding that in Indonesian culture there is a saying that “good neighbours will help each other in times of difficulties”.
In a statement, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the treaty will “reflect the close friendship, partnership and deep trust between Australia and Indonesia, under our Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.
“Australia and Indonesia both benefit from each other’s stability and sense of security.”
The treaty builds upon an Australia-Indonesia defence co-operation agreement struck in August 2024 and the 2006 Howard-era Lombok Treaty.
Greg Barton, the rector of Deakin University’s Indonesia campus, said the treaty was a “big deal for a country that has traditionally resisted joining camps and coalitions”.
“Indonesia has believed that its foreign policy should be fluid, free and flexible,” he said. “To formally reach an agreement like this doesn’t break with that but it does show them putting meat on the bones of the relationship with Australia.”
Lowy Institute program director Sam Roggeveen, who has advocated a new military pact with Indonesia, welcomed deeper co-operation with Australia’s closest Asian neighbours.
“As much as possible, Australia should be seeking the type of agreement with Indonesia as the ANZUS pact it has with the United States,” he said.
In a scathing statement issued on Wednesday, Keating called departing RSL president Greg Melick a “dope” for saying during a Remembrance Day ceremony that Australia was not spending enough on defence to keep the nation safe.
Accusing Melick of abusing “the quiet solemnity” of the memorial day, Keating said: “He wants the public to believe that we have only minutes to midnight before we witness an attack on our shores. Notwithstanding that the Chinese have never, ever threatened us.
“His utterances are simply the strategic jottings of a dope.”
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