UK-Australia Free Trade Agreement

January 17, 2023: Australian Agriculture Minister Senator Murray Watt flew to London this week to shore up support for the Australia-UK Free Trade Agreement, which is being debated in the UK parliament and is still to be ratified by the Sunak Conservative Government.

Minister Watts tweeted: “I’m in London & Berlin to advocate for Aus ag. With National Farmers President Fiona Simson in a joint Govt-industry push for: ratification of the Aus-UK FTA; a good deal in the Aus-EU FTA & promotion of Australia’s sustainable ag credentials.”

November 22, 2022: Enabling legislation for the Australia-UK FTA (AUKFTA) and the Interim Australia-India Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (AIECTA) was tabled in parliament on October 27 and was passed on November 22. The Joint Standing Committee on Treaties (JSCOT) Report on the AUKFTA was tabled on November 17 and the Interim India JSCOT Report on November 18, leaving  little time for them to be considered by parliament. The government made statements urging the quick passage of the legislation. Both reports recommended in favour of the enabling legislation, but they reflected some of AFTINET’s concerns. See our JSCOT submissions here and here.

Our preference was for these issues to be addressed before the enabling legislation, but failing this we have asked the government to address these issues in the reviews of the AUKFTA which are scheduled in the next two years, and in the negotiations for a more comprehensive Economic and Trade Cooperation Agreement with India which is due to be negotiated next year.

Thursday October 13, 2022: The UK-based Transform Trade - People centred trade report and its associated legal research report – Foreign Investment, Human Rights and the Climate in the UK – Asymmetric Legal Protection – hit two powerful themes – people’s action is transforming international trade and can do much more; and British law enables British corporations to cruelly exploit ISDS in bilateral investment agreements for super profits.

September 8, 2022: Read Patricia Ranald's article in The Conversation: https://theconversation.com/british-investors-could-sue-australia-over-c...

September 5, 2022: Labor’s Trade Minster Senator Don Farrell declared over the weekend that he wanted the Australia-UK Free Trade Agreement (A-UK FTA) ratified by the end of the year, despite the fact that the Parliamentary Joint Standing Committee on Treaties (JSCOT) is yet to review it, and Labor is yet to test it against its own trade policy.

August 8, 2022: The submissions for the Australia-UK Free Tread Agreement closed before the election. The Joint Standing Committee on Treaties  will consider all previous submissions.  

July 20, 2022 :New polling commissioned by UK groups Trade Justice Movement and Global Justice Now has found that 78 per cent of Britons want MPs to debate the pros and cons of new trade deals before they come into force. The House of Commons trade committee has requested the Trade Minister for a full debate before ratification, and criticised its inability to scrutinise the deal properly. This followed an independent report from the Trade and Agriculture Commission  confirming that the trade deal will affect employment in the farm and food sectors and could lower environmental, food safety, and animal welfare standards.

July 11, 2022: A key parliamentary committee in the UK has urged the British government to extend the period of scrutiny on the Australia-UK Free Trade Agreement (A-UKFTA), after ministers were accused of pushing it through parliament without proper inspection.

April 19, 2022: Following the signing of the Australia-UK Free Trade Deal (A-UKFTA), the UK Trade and Agriculture Commission (TAC) has published a report that confirms the trade deal will lower environmental sustainability standards.