The Australia-United Kingdom Free Trade Agreement enters into force today, meaning that more than 99 per cent of Australian products will enter the UK duty free. In Australia, the five per cent tariff on British goods will be lifted.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade called the agreement “a gold standard trade deal” that benefits all Australians, while trade and tourism minister Senator Don Farrell predicts the deal will “help tackle rising living costs”.
Australian producers of wine, beef, sheep meat, grains, rice, sugar, and dairy products will all benefit from duty-free quotas or tariff elimination, DFAT states.
The immediate elimination of UK tariffs will boost manufactured products (such as auto parts and electrical equipment) and cosmetic products.
Australian tariffs on British favourites such as cars, whisky, confectionery, biscuits, and cosmetics will be cut, bringing down prices and saving Australian households and businesses around $200 million a year.
From 31 January 2024, more Australians will be able to apply for working holidays in the UK and stay for longer.
Australian creators and artists, including First Nations artists, will receive royalties when their original works of art are resold in the UK.
Business can look up how the substantial two-way tariff cuts under the deal apply to their specific goods through the FTA portal.
The United Kingdom is Australia’s twelfth largest trading partner. Two-way goods trade was worth $10 billion in 2022, and two-way services trade was worth $4.4 billion in 2021-22.
The UK is Australia’s second largest source of foreign direct investment, amounting to more than $1 trillion in 2022. Modern investment provisions will help promote further growth in two-way investment, DFAT states.
Quintessence Labs
“The opportunities created by the Australia-UK Free Trade Agreement level the playing field and open doors in-market,” Vikram Sharma, founder and CEO of Canberra-based cybersecurity company QuintessenceLabs (QLabs), said.
In 2018, QLabs won the UK Department for International Trade (DIT)’s Tech Rocketship Award as Australia’s first quantum tech company. Since then, it has caught the attention of Fortune 500 companies worldwide, ranging from financial services and defence firms to cloud and software companies, DFAT states.
“The UK and European Union are globally significant markets for cyber security,” Mr Sharma said.
“We anticipate the FTA will allow a local subsidiary of an Australian parent company to be competitive.”
Geospatial Intelligence
Canberra-based Geospatial Intelligence delivered satellite imagery to the public and private sector to track illegal fishing, lost cargo, and oil spills. Its technologies can monitor biosecurity hazards and agriculture.
DFAT predicts that the UK FTA presents opportunities for expansion. The UK Department of Business and Trade has taken a keen interest in Geospatial Intelligence, and set up a related company that is trialling a pandemic early warning system.
“Geospatial Intelligence is about focusing on what’s happening, where it is happening, and why it is happening,” the company’s co-founder, Rob Coorey, said. “We use space as an enabler to track and analyse multiple variables. The resulting data helps us devise new solutions to real world problems.
“As spatial data scientists, we convert data into valuable information that can assist decision makers in their endeavours to protect our planet and humanity.”
