Scott Morrison, Boris Johnson agree in-principle to free trade deal

Australia is the first nation to secure a post-Brexit free trade deal with the UK as Boris Johnson vowed to stand with Scott Morrison against Chinese aggression.

Queen Elizabeth and Scott Morrison in the Oak Room at Windsor Castle, Berkshire, on Tuesday night (AEST). Picture: AFP

Australia is the first nation to secure a post-Brexit free trade deal with the UK in a historic breakthrough, as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson vowed to stand shoulder to shoulder with Scott Morrison against Chinese aggression.

The pair signed an “agreement in principle” after a three-hour working dinner the night before at 10 Downing Street, with Mr Morrison describing the breakthrough as “the most comprehensive and ambitious agreement that Australia has concluded”, alongside New Zealand.

At a joint press conference, the British Prime Minister raised concerns with China’s global conduct and said he was hopeful his country could become a more significant trading partner with Australia given the scale of the trade relationship with Beijing.

“I looked at the numbers. I think something like $175bn is Australia’s trade with China,” Mr Johnson said. “I think Australia’s trade with the UK is currently in the order of $15bn. So you can see the difference in the scale. I want to raise that second figure very substantially as a result of what we’re doing.”

Referencing Beijing’s treatment of Uighurs in Xinjiang and its “general repression of liberties in Hong Kong” and the way it behaved “particularly towards Australia”, Mr Johnson said the UK stood “shoulder to shoulder with our friends”.

“Nobody wants to descend into a new cold war with China,” he said. “We don’t see that as the way forward. This is a difficult relationship where it is vital to engage with China in the most positive way as we can. Where there (are) difficulties evidently … it’s vital that allies, UK and Australia, work together. That’s one of the reasons we’re sending the Carrier Strike Group you way.”

Mr Morrison said the new trade agreement would help make up the “foundation of this broader partnership that Australia and the United Kingdom enjoy”. He hailed it as the “right deal” despite earlier stumbling blocks on labour mobility and quotas for Australian agricultural producers.

“This is a foundational partnership for Australia as it is for the UK,” the Prime Minister said. “And everything else we do stems from that relationship, our co-operation on defence, on strategic issues, our co-operation on science and research, in dealing with technology challenges to combat climate change and indeed the economic relationship.

“Our economies are stronger by these agreements … Movement of people, movement of goods, movement of services, this is what underpins the strength of advanced economies and liberal democracies.”

The agreement was touted by Mr Johnson as a “prelude to further deals” and a launching pad for entry into the 11-nation Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, although he conceded there were “sensitive issues” that had been confronted by both sides.

Mr Johnson said the UK would now “be able to take tariffs off” over a period of 15 years, arguing the deal would benefit British farmers and consumers as well.

“There are indeed safeguards. There is a 15-year transition period, which is a long time to wait,” he said. “As you can imagine for our friends in Australia, the UK joined what was then the common market in 1973 and I have to tell you that was pretty devastating for lots of farmers in Australia.

“They committed suicide some of them in the face of what happened to Australian agriculture in the 70s when the UK went into the common market. We’re opening up to Australia but we’re doing it in a staggered way.”

Mr Johnson said the deal would be good news for British car manufacturers and services firms as well as those operating in the agricultural sector.

“It will also make it easier for young British people to go and work in Australia without having the traditional compulsion to going to work on a farm for 80 days which used to be the rule,” he said.

Under the deal, Australia will phase out by 2027 the requirement for British backpackers to work on farms to extend their working holiday visas, with the labour shortfall in the agricultural sector to be made up through the introduction of an agricultural visa by the end of 2021. British backpackers had provided the agricultural sector with up to 10,000 workers a season

The Australian has been informed the agricultural visa will take in workers from the 10 Association of South East Asian nations – Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam – and work in conjunction with the seasonal worker program and Pacific labour scheme.

Mr Morrison said the deal would provide greater opportunities for young people in the UK and Australia to move about and work in both nations in a way that “builds the capacity of both countries.”

Boris Johnson, right, and Scott Morrison in the garden of 10 Downing Street, London, on Tuesday. Picture: Getty Images

On Tuesday, Agriculture Minister David Littleproud said the Nationals had “already got an agreement from the Prime Minister to make sure that there is a mechanism in which, not only to replace that up to 10,000 (British backpackers), but also to look to stabilise and build on the capacity of seasonal workers that are required”.

“This goes hand in glove, although it’s separate to any free trade agreement,” Mr Littleproud told the ABC.

Nationals MP Damian Drum backed an agricultural working visa to fill the void from British backpackers.

Trade Minister Dan Tehan assured the Coalition partyroom on Tuesday that the deal did not force Australia to endorse a net-zero emissions by 2050 target, after questioning from Nationals senator Matt Canavan.

In London, Mr Johnson said he thought that Australia had “declared for net zero by 2050” despite Mr Morrison only saying it was his preference to reach carbon neutrality by mid-century. Mr Johnson said Australia achieving net zero by 2050 would be a “great step forward” given it was a “massive coal producer”. “It’s having to change the way things are orientated and everybody understands that,” he said.