“No tariffs on 99% of Australian exports”: PM buoyant about UK free trade agreement

Australia’s free trade agreement with the United Kingdom will start at the end of the month, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says.

Under the deal, there will be no tariffs on almost all Australian goods exported to the UK and more Australians will be eligible for lengthier working holidays in the country.

“What the FTA between Australia and the United Kingdom is about is getting greater access to this market for Australian products — greater access for our beef, for our sheep products, for our wine,” Albanese said during a visit to Bondi Green, an Australian-themed restaurant in London’s Paddington, on Thursday.

The prime minister said that, after a two-year period, there would be no tariffs on 99% of Australian exports to the UK and the same would apply to UK products arriving in Australia.

“Products becoming cheaper is also deflationary,” he said.

“So the imports that we get from the UK, if you cut the taxes and cut the tariffs, then they are by definition cheaper and that will have a positive impact on our economy.”

Then-UK prime minister Boris Johnson jokingly told Australia’s Scott Morrison in 2021 that a deal would mean “you give us Tim Tams and we give you Penguins, you give us Vegemite and we give you Marmite, we give you Burberry and Mackintoshes and you give us RM Williams Japaras”.

After the same two-year phase-in, Australians will be able to apply for working holidays in the UK to the age of 35 — up from 30 — and stay for a maximum of three years instead of two.

“I first came to London like many Australians backpacking, staying on a floor of someone I knew in West Hampstead and using it as a base for six months as so many young Australians do,” Albanese said on Thursday.

“What they’ll be able to do with this FTA is see more of Australian products while they’re here, and also be able to work and make that economic contribution, and then go back with that experience with the benefit that comes from experiencing different cultures.”

UK citizens coming to Australia will also be able to work for three years, with local officials stating that the country’s professionals “from scientists and researchers to lawyers and accountants will have access to Australian work visas without being subject to its changing skilled occupation list”.

Albanese said he expected to complete the trade agreement timetable during a meeting with UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Friday, allowing the deal to come into force on May 31.

The UK government said on Thursday its free trade agreement with New Zealand, with similar conditions, would also start on the last day of May.

This article was first published by AAP.