Mr Turnbull got the red carpet treatment as he arrived in the Laos capital of Vientiane on Tuesday afternoon off the back of talks at the G20 summit in China.
Speaking ahead of a bilateral meeting with his Singaporean counterpart on Tuesday evening, Mr Turnbull pointed to "two disturbing reminders" overnight that highlighted the need for leaders to focus on national security over the next few days.
Missile tests in North Korea overnight represented "continued, destabilising, dangerous and provocative conduct by the DPRK".
He also commented on a call by ISIS to attack Australians "wherever you find them" in a newsletter titled Rumiyah
"Kill them on the streets of Brunswick, Broadmeadows, Bankstown, and Bondi. Kill them at the MCG, the SCG, the Opera House, and even in their backyards," it urged.
While Mr Turnbull said the capacity of ISIS was "much less than they proclaim them to be," he added Australia does need to be "very alert to the actions of these lone actors."
"Sharing of intelligence is more important than ever before," he told reporters.
"Counter-terrorism too is going to be a key focus of these meetings over the next few days."
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Describing it as the "premier forum" to discuss issues of national and economic security in the region, Mr Turnbull said he was looking forward to having frank discussions.
Australia-Japan relationship 'very warm and close' despite subs snub: PM
Mr Turnbull was questioned as to why he was yet to meet with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, after three days in the region since the G20 in Hangzhou, China.
Since Sunday, Mr Turnbull has had formal bilateral meetings with the leaders of China, Britain, India, Germany, Russia, France, Turkey and Singapore.
“I spoke with Prime Minister Abe on several occasions in the course of the G20 meeting," he said.
"There are formal bilaterals, but in these conferences very often the most valuable encounters are the less formal ones where there can be a very candid exchange of views and Prime Minister Abe and I had a number of meetings of that kind."
Mr Turnbull said there was a formal bilateral meeting scheduled on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit in Vientiane.
In April, just weeks before the federal election was called, the Australian government announced that France had defeated rival bids from Germany and Japan to build a fleet of new submarines in Adelaide.
The move came as a shock to many in regional security establishments for several reasons, primarily because Japan was given an informal nod by former Liberal Prime Minister Tony Abbott.
Mr Abbott had entered into an informal arrangement with Prime Minister Abe for Japan to build the fleet to replace Australia's ageing Collins class submarines.
The decision was perceived to be in the interests of the regional security, bolstering Japan-US-Australia ties against China’s increasingly assertive navy.
But the arrangement was deeply unpopular for the Abbott government at home, especially in South Australia, which was relying on a local build to replace thousands of jobs being lost through the closure of the car industry.
The Japanese government described the decision not to go ahead with the arrangement as "deeply regrettable".
“We will ask Australia to explain why they didn’t pick our design,” Defence Minister Gen Nakatani said.
At the time the contract was awarded to France, Mr Abbott, now a backbencher, commiserated with Japan amid reports he wrote Mr Abe a personal letter.
"Australia's special relationship with Japan is more than strong enough to withstand this disappointment and I am confident that our strategic partnership will continue to grow through other means,” Mr Abbott said in statement.
The ASEAN forum and related East Asia Summit is expected to be dominated by regional security and the South China Sea.
However there have been tensions between Australia and contract winner France as well.
At the G20 summit earlier in the week, French President Francois Hollande told Mr Turnbull that the massive leak of sensitive military data from DCNS’s Indian submarine build was unacceptable.
Mr Hollande assured Australia that France was undertaking a full investigation and would keep the government updated.
But despite all the focus being seemingly elsewhere, Mr Turnbull said he was looking forward to his formal catch up with Mr Abe.
“The relationship is a very warm one, a very close one, we regard each other as friends, at a personal level, it’s a very close relationship,” Mr Turnbull said.
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With AAP
