Major shake-up for visa-holders and FNQ farmers in UK trade deal

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The new free trade agreement (FTA) between Australia and the United Kingdom is set to shake up Queensland’s fruit and vegetable industry.

The existing working holiday visa will no longer require internationals to complete the mandatory three months’ farm work.

In its place, the Australian Government will offer a new agricultural visa to UK and ten ASEAN countries.

It comes in response to an estimated 26,000 worker shortage across Australia’s horticulture industry.

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AUSVEG National Public Affairs Manager, Tyson Cattle, said the new agriculture visa is long-awaited good news for the horticulture sector.

“The horticulture industry has been calling for a dedicated and productive workforce for many years and this morning’s announcement is great news for the sector,” he said.

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“While working holiday makers will always have a role to play within our industry, giving growers and workers a pathway to primarily work on-farm should be seen as a major step forward for the development of the horticulture sector.

“The ASEAN countries are some of our closest trading partners, so extending the agriculture visa to these countries makes economic sense and demonstrates our commitment in helping our regional neighbours.”

“What we need now is timely action to get this visa class up and running so that we can start bringing in workers as soon as possible when borders open up and international workers are able to enter the country.”

The new visa is reported to have no age limit and come into effect by the end of this year.

Further changes to the existing working holiday visa will include an increased stay to three years, while the age limit will extend to 35 – a jump by five years.

The FTA has been agreed upon by the two governments ‘in-principle’, meaning the exact details haven’t been finalised, including when the changes will be implemented.

Sugarcane export boost

Queensland sugarcane growers have also welcomed a huge boost in its capacity to export to the United Kingdom.

The new FTA will see Australia have immediate access to a duty-free quota of 80,000 tonnes, which will also increase by 20,000 tonnes each year.

CANEGROWERS Chairman Paul Schembri said the country's sugarcane industry hasn’t had this level of access to the UK market in almost fifty years. 

“This is a significant boost on the 9,925 tonne quota to the whole European Union prior to Brexit,” he said.

“Importantly too, this agreement with the UK allows for the sugar trade to grow over time by 20,000 tonnes each year for the next eight years.

“Australia has well-established markets in the Asia-Pacific region and these will continue to be the main focus of our sugar sales.

“A UK-FTA will provide a welcome diversification for our export-oriented industry.”

Almost 95% of Australia’s sugarcane is grown in Queensland.

Earlier this year, Australia became the world’s second largest exporter of sugarcane next to Brazil.

Sugar tariffs will be eliminated over eight years in the new FTA, while dairy tariffs are to end over five years and beef and sheep tariffs over ten years.

The new trade deal is the UK’s first FTA to be negotiated from scratch since leaving the European Union in January last year.