EU FREE TRADE DEAL; FUEL EXCISE RELIEF

Australia lands European free trade deal

Australia and the European Union have struck a free trade agreement, which will confer duty-free status on 98 per cent of the current value of Australian exports to the EU. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Australian farmers and producers would benefit from the EU eliminating tariffs on a range of products, including wine, fruit and vegetables, most dairy products, wheat, barley, and seafood. Increased export quotas had been secured for Australian beef, sheepmeat, sugar and rice, the PM said. Under the free trade deal signed in Canberra with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Australian tariffs would be removed on a range of imports from the EU, such as wine, spirits and pasta. The PM said Australian companies, including small and medium-size enterprises, would gain better access to bid for lucrative European government contracts. Negotiations on the Australia-EU free trade deal stretched over eight years. Mr Albanese said the EU constituted a market of around 450 million people.

Fuel excise halved for three months, relief for truck drivers

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced a halving of the fuel excise and a deferment of the road user charge on heavy vehicles, in a bid to counter rising costs imposed by the Middle East conflict. The PM said the fuel excise on petrol and diesel would be halved for three months from April 1, reducing the cost of fuel by 26.3 cents a litre, or by almost $19 on a 65-litre tank of fuel. In addition, the government will reduce the Heavy Vehicle Road User Charge to zero for three months, to assist the trucking industry. Budget papers for 2025-26, delivered in March last year, estimated that the Federal Government would collect more than $25 billion through excise imposed on petrol and diesel in the current financial year.

Prices ease and fuel falls ahead of Mid-East conflict

Meanwhile, automotive fuel prices fell by more than seven per cent in the 12 months to February – before the current conflict in the Middle East – according to latest figures. The Australian Bureau of Statistics reported that while electricity prices rose by 37 per cent in the 12 months to February, automotive fuel prices fell by 7.2 per cent over the same period, as the inflation rate flattened. Annual inflation stabilised in February, with the headline rate of the Consumer Price Index easing from 3.8 per cent to 3.7 per cent. The underlying rate of inflation, or trimmed mean, remained at 3.3 per cent. Following the outbreak of conflict in the Middle East, a hike in fuel prices is expected to flow through to higher inflation, starting in March.

Defence partnership with EU to target cyber, counter-terrorism

In addition to their new free trade agreement, Australia and the European Union have established a new bilateral partnership to address security and defence issues. The Australia-European Union Security and Defence Partnership seeks to boost cooperation across the defence industry and in the areas of cyber, economic security, and counter-terrorism. Under the partnership, Australia and the EU will increase information-sharing to counter global threats, deepen cooperation to combat online radicalisation and terrorism financing, and establish a new space security dialogue. The Federal Government said the partnership would also create new defence procurement opportunities for Australian and European businesses.

Gas exports raising billions in tax revenue, says King

Resources Minister Madeleine King has pushed back on suggestions that Australia should adopt a levy on gas exports, defending the sector’s role in energy security and national income. Ms King, in a media interview, said Australia’s gas industry played an important role in the nation’s position in the Indo-Pacific and to domestic gas provisions. Without international investment and international exports, there would be no domestic gas to provide a lot of gas to the southern states and to Western Australia. The Minister said the gas industry raised “billions upon billions of dollars’ worth of tax” that went to the Australian people, including through the Petroleum Resource Rent Tax, a profit-based tax.

Chalmers pushes to make NDIS sustainable

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has admitted that the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is putting “extreme pressure” on the Federal Budget, and more work was needed to make the scheme sustainable. In a podcast interview, the Treasurer said the costs of the NDIS (now around $52 billion annually) had blown out substantially since its conception in 2013, with many more people on the NDIS than originally anticipated. He said a lot of assumptions about the level of take-up of the scheme proved not to be right, and the government would continue to work with the states and territories to make the NDIS sustainable over the longer term.