Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne promised to use her position to defend human rights around the world but has shown caution in pushing the cause in our region.
It comes as government statement said it had fully defeated what it called an attempted coup d'etat by the"rebel"Sam Rainsy.
Scott Morrison has highlighted the strategic gains to Australia if a regional trade deal can include both India and China.
Mahathir Mohamad,the Malaysian Prime Minister who for years blocked deeper Australian engagement with Asia,now says Australia will integrate with Asia.
Premier Li Keqiang has offered to work with Scott Morrison to get the strained relationship between the two countries"on the right track"during a bilateral meeting in Thailand.
Malaysia's Trade Minister says the United States'clear intention to isolate itself from the rest of the world has given new imperative for countries in the Asia Pacific,including Australia,to co-operate on trade and investment.
Australia's and Vietnam's prime ministers will talk up growing economic and security ties when they meet in Hanoi,but China's rise provides the context.
The group spoke out earlier this year from exile in Laos after two associates were murdered and six others went missing.
The Thai government has asked people not to panic. ASEAN ministers and diplomats are meeting in the city.
The Morrison government will send its first minister to China since the federal election to put pressure on Beijing and India
Dissidents say nowhere in ASEAN is safe as critics of the monarchy have been found dead or gone missing beyond the kingdom's borders.