Foreign Minister Julie Bishop will travel to Rodrigo Duterte's hometown in the southern Philippines this week in a rare diplomatic gesture to the foul-mouthed president who has presided over the killings of almost 8000 Filipinos in his so-called war on drugs.
Ms Bishop will also visit Malaysia, where Prime Minister Najib Razak is implicated in the world's biggest financial scandal, declaring she will discuss issues including "progress in our strategic partnership".
The decision to fly 1000 kilometres from the Philippine capital Manila to southern Davao to meet Mr Duterte comes as Australia campaigns for a seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva.
The council's chief, Zeid bin Raad al-Hussein, last December described Mr Duterte's drugs campaign as an "appalling epidemic of extra-judicial killings" that violates international law.
Human rights lawyers and advocates say a case is mounting for Mr Duterte to be charged with crimes against humanity.
Ms Bishop said the practice of extra-judicial killings to combat the drug trade is of "deep concern" to Australia and a range of issues would be raised in her meetings with Philippine government representatives and NGOs.
"I will emphasise the importance of upholding human rights and the rule of law in democratic societies," she told Fairfax Media.
Mr Duterte sparked outrage last year when he said he should have been first in line to rape 36-year-old Australian missionary Jacqueline Hamill before she was gang raped and killed by inmates in a Davao jail.
When Amanda Gorely, Australia's ambassador in Manila, tweeted that rape and murder should never be joked about, Mr Duterte hit back at the Australian government, saying it should "stay out" of Philippine politics.
Since his landslide election last May, scores of Philippine business tycoons, politicians, celebrities and rebel leaders have travelled to Davao to meet Mr Duterte, who says he prefers to stay in his modest house in city rather than Manila's presidential palace.
But the only international figure to make the trip was Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was a guest in Mr Duterte's house for breakfast in January.
Seventy-two-year-old Mr Duterte, who rose to prominence as a crime-fighting mayor, has often boasted that Davao, with a population of 1.6 million people, is one of the world's safest cities.
But that claim was shattered when a bomb exploded at a night market near one of the city's biggest hotels last September, killing 15 people and injuring scores of others.
Ms Bishop will meet Mr Duterte only days after his political allies pushed through the country's parliament a bill to restore the death penalty for drugs offences, creating a new irritant in relations between Australia and the Philippines.
The Turnbull government has been campaigning around the world for the abolition of capital punishment.
In a video statement announcing the trip, Ms Bishop said the Philippines leg would include meetings with non-government organisations to discuss human rights issues.
In Malaysia she is not scheduled to meet Mr Najib, a close ally of successive Australian governments, who investigators say received almost $US1 billion in his personal bank accounts, much of it from state investment fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), where billions of dollars has gone missing.
Mr Najib denies any wrongdoing.
But Ms Bishop will meet Malaysia's foreign and defence ministers and "explore opportunities to deepen our economic, trade and security ties".
In the Philippines, she said she will discuss issues including counter-terrorism, maritime and regional security and deliver a speech on opportunities for Australia and the Philippines.
Asked about Australia's reluctance to speak out about serious human rights abuses in the region, Ms Bishop denied the assertion.
"Australia is currently campaigning for a seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council and continues to be a strong advocate for human rights and the rule of law," she said.
Critics of the council point out that members include Saudi Arabia and Cuba, countries with poor track records on human rights.
In February, Ms Bishop said she was "deeply concerned" about atrocities against Rohingyas in Myanmar but she only spoke out days after unprecedented international condemnation of Myanmar's government and the passing of a motion in the Australian Senate calling on the Turnbull government to act.
In October, she urged the Philippine government "to ensure the cessation of extra-judicial killings and offer all Filipino citizens their rights according to the country's criminal justice system".
Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch, said that Ms Bishop should warn Mr Duterte that if he fails to end unlawful killings, Australia would support an independent international investigation if it is elected to the UN Human Rights Council.
In Malaysia, Mr Robertson said Ms Bishop should call on Mr Najib to end his crackdown on freedom of expression and end a slew of politically motivated prosecutions.
"The Malaysian people should have the right to speak out about what they want, including their prime minister's involvement in 1MDB, without fear that a Facebook post would bring police to their door," he said.
with Fergus Hunter
