SBY urges more co-operation with Indonesia

Australia and Indonesia will thrive with further economic and humanitarian engagement, the republic's former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono says.

Speaking at a public forum at the University of Western Australia on Thursday, Dr Yudhoyono said he hoped more Indonesians would come to Australia to train, invest, study and play - and vice versa.

Although Indonesia's middle class is larger than Australia's population, trade and investment figures don't reflect that, he says.

"A deep economic partnership will make us not just better neighbours, but also better partners," he said.

Dr Yudhoyono outlined several key issues facing the international community and region including climate change, the international effort to sustainable development goals, developing the ASEAN community and geopolitics.

Identifying climate change as the most important issue, Dr Yudhoyono said he was "cautiously optimistic" about the future and felt encouraged with more world leaders addressing the problem, including the Pope.

He said two-thirds of the world's global carbon budget had already been used, leaving the final one-third for the next three decades.

If we fail to accomplish this, temperatures will rise and the consequences will be severe, Dr Yudhoyono says.

He added that he hoped a solution could be reached at the climate change conference in Paris in December.

Dr Yudhoyono also spoke about growing up in East Java in poverty, saying much had changed in recent years, but there was still "unfinished business".

On geopolitics, Dr Yudhoyono said potential conflicts needed to be turned into co-operation.

He said there was an "uncomfortable peace" in the world, marked by heightened tensions and mutual distrust.

"This is why I believe that the major powers and the emerging powers need to arrive at some sort of dynamic equilibrium or strategic equilibrium," he said.