Australia-United Kingdom Ministerial Consultations 2005

[Jamie]

Emma nodded "Good" she responded in relation to the lack of reports of the Suez before turning her attention onto Counter-Terrorism and Law Enforcement "It's good to know Australia and New Zealand continue to work together on such matters, as you know, Terrorism is a global problem. It's not one likely to ever go away but through cooperation, we can hopefully prevent it before it happens. I'd like to see collaboration in this arena through real data intelligence sharing which could potentially be extended to shared watchlists for known or suspected terrorists. This could also push into joint military cooperation in terms of special forces and most importantly, learning from previous incidents.

If, of course, that's of interest, then maybe it can be pursued initially through a form of intelligence agreement. Specifically surrounding the sharing of information on known and suspected terrorists and groups that can be extended into sharing anecdotes from our experiences to help prepare for what's next." Owen

 

[Owen]

"We're definitely open to cooperating with the United Kingdom in terms of law enforcement and terrorism and sharing intelligence in that arena. Our internal security structures are based off a lot of what we've learnt from the United Kingdom, including the creation of the Department of Home Affairs based on your Home Office, amalgamating elements from the Attorney-General's Department and the Department of Immigration and Border Protection. Transforming the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service into the Australian Border Force. ASIO based heavily on MI5. We're very open to expanding our collaboration in this space."

Jamie

 

[Jamie]

"That's great to hear, I don't currently have a draft of what this could entail but I can have one written and sent to you in an appropriate time frame to review. This could include designating secure communication channels, identifying the type of intelligence that ought to be shared and promoting regular consultation to name a few examples. From there, we can work together from there as to any amendments, if that's acceptable?" she asked, serving as an invitation to raise any other specific points on the topic. Owen

 

[Owen]

"Yes that will be perfectly fine." Kevin would be mindful of the amount of time that has now passed with this current AUKMIN and would be eager to keep moving on the agenda.

"Shall we move onto bilateral migration and visa policies?

I'll start off by saying that we allow British citizen passport holders to apply for an Electronic Travel Authority into Australia and then have unlimited stays for 90 days at a time within a 12 month period. It is a form of tourist visa. Australia has a universal visa policy, but has a special category of visa for New Zealanders which they are granted upon arrival and is indefinite. But every non-citizen needs some type of visa to be in Australia."

Jamie

 

[Jamie]

Emma nodded, "Thank you for outlining Australia's visa policies, to give the rundown on our current policy. At the moment Australian passport holders can visit the UK for up to 6 months without needing a visa, typically for tourism, family visits, or short business trips. For working or longer stays, Australians must apply for a visa under the UK's general immigration system, for example a skilled worker or student visa. We tend to only offer this as part of our waiver agreement for citizens of countries, such as Australia, that we have strong diplomatic relations with. It offers the flexibility that I hope suits your citizens well." she smiled, noticing the time.

"I think we've gone over, well over, our timeframe. Perhaps an evaluation of where we stand now and if there's anything you'd like to bring up away from the scheduled topics - or as part of them?" she suggested, "Aside from the migration and visa policies, we have economics, health and humanitarian and any other business."

Owen

 

[Owen]

"That's a perfectly good arrangement I see, and exceeds the usual 3 months on offer by most countries.

Yes we are taking quite a bit of time. We currently have the Defence and Security Cooperation Agreement which is pending a signature in terms of proposed agreements. In terms of health and humanitarian. Well, we're quite open to having a Reciprocal Health Care Agreement with the United Kingdom. AusAID is the lead agency for Australian Government aid delivery and it works a lot in the Asia-Pacific, I think the two spheres of our aid and humanitarian agencies is different and based more on geography.

In terms of economics, we would like to have a proper free trade agreement with the United Kingdom, to supersede the one we have already. This would include the complete removal of tariffs and other areas such as skills mobility. Our trade ministers can continue negotiations moving forward in terms of this agreement, to hopefully sign in the near future."

Jamie

 

[Jamie]

"The proposed Defence Agreement, I've taken note of and will discuss this internally then get back to you promptly" Jason responded promptly before giving Emma a chance to refer to him. "I'm curious as to what you have in mind for the Reciprocal Health Care Agreement, though. As for the Trade Agreement, I concur to supersede the existing. I think the existing agreement ought to be focused on the trade elements and we can review access to Diego Garcia as part of the new agreement that can be reviewed then discussed outside of this consultation with our Secretary of Defence - would you like to schedule a meeting specifically for trade or would you prefer to compile a draft first as an initial presentation?" Owen

 

[Owen]

"A Reciprocal Health Care Agreement would simply be an agreement between Australia and the United Kingdom that would ensure that our citizens visiting each other's countries can have access to the same universal health care arrangements. As we both have universal health care, it is pretty straight forward. Australians would be able to access the NHS in the United Kingdom and British citizens would be able to access the Medicare system in Australia.

The free trade agreement would take some time to draft, we are looking at quite an extensive agreement. We were hoping to schedule meetings to perhaps go over it a bit and stipulate the terms of what we would both like to see. I think the Diego Garcia elements in the previous agreement should be in a seperate agreement as that does not really pertain to trade, rather military cooperation. But we did discuss that and incorporate it into the Defence and Security Cooperation Agreement, Article 2, paragraph 2, section p. Article 5 of that agreement does provide for a broad scope of access to facilities, but paragraph 2 of that section does allow for written agreements to define terms of that use, but we would prefer that our cooperation was at the level where the requirement for any fee payable was no longer the case, in both of our nations. We aren't stipulating any fee for a British Army Jungle Warfare Training School in Australia. This is the level of alliance that we would prefer to be at by this point."

Jamie

 

[Owen]

Kevin Rudd would be handed an agreement by his assistant which would be faxed over from Canberra. He would look at it before sliding it over to his UK counterpart.

Agreement on Health Services between the Government of Australia and the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

AGREEMENT ON HEALTH SERVICES BETWEEN THE GOVERNMENT OF AUSTRALIA AND THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND​

THE GOVERNMENT OF AUSTRALIA AND THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND; DESIROUS of providing immediately necessary medical treatment for residents of the territory of one Party temporarily in the territory of the other Party; HAVE AGREED as follows:

Article 1​

(1) For the purposes of this Agreement: (a) "medical treatment" means:​ ​ (i) in relation to the United Kingdom and to the Isle of Man, treatment by services provided under national health legislation, administered by Health authorities or by the Isle of Man Health Services Board respectively;​ ​ (ii) in relation to the Island of Jersey, hospital-based medical, nursing, ophthalmic and pharmaceutical services, provided by the Public Health Committee of the States of Jersey;​ ​ (iii) in relation to Bailiwick of Guernsey, hospital treatment as provided by the Board of Health of the States of Guernsey; and​ ​ (iv) in relation to Australia, medical and hospital services provided, or in respect of which a benefit is payable, under the Health Insurance Act 1973, the National Health Act 1953 and any agreements or determinations made under the Health Insurance Act 1973 for and in relation to the provision in the States and Territories of Australia of hospital services and other health services;​ ​ (b) "resident" means:​ ​ (i) in relation to the territory of the United Kingdom, a person who is ordinarily resident in any part of the territory of the United Kingdom; and​ ​ (ii) in relation to Australia, a person who is an Australian resident, for the purposes of the Health Insurance Act 1973;​ ​ (c) "proof of residence" means:​ ​ (i) in relation to the territory of the United Kingdom or any part of that territory, a current United Kingdom passport, including a passport issued in the Isle of Man, Jersey or Guernsey, or as appropriate one of the following:​ ​ (aa) National Health Service Medical Card in the case of Great Britain and the Isle of Man​ ​ (bb) Health Service Medical Card in the case of Northern Ireland​ ​ (cc) Certificate issued by the Social Security Committee of the States of Jersey​ ​ (dd) Proof of insurance issued by the Guernsey States Insurance Authority or other proof of residence in the Bailiwick of Guernsey; and​ ​ (ii) in relation to the territory of Australia, a current Australian passport or a current Medicare card;​ ​ (d) "territory":​ ​ (i) in relation to the United Kingdom shall be construed as including the Isle of Man and the Island of Jersey and the Bailiwick of Guernsey; and​ ​ (ii) in relation to Australia shall be construed as excluding all external territories other than the territories of Cocos (Keeling) Islands and Christmas Island;​ ​ (e) a reference to the national health legislation of a Party is a reference to the legislation under which medical treatment is provided.​ (2) For the purposes of this Agreement, unless the context otherwise requires, other words and expressions used in the Agreement have the meanings assigned to them respectively under the national health legislation of the Parties. (3) This Agreement shall apply also to any legislation which replaces, amends, supplements or consolidates the national health legislation of a Party.

Article 2​

(1) This Agreement applies to a resident of the territory of one Party who is able to provide proof of residence and who is either: (a) temporarily in the territory the other Party; or​ ​ (b) the head or a member of the staff of a diplomatic mission or consular post established there by the first-mentioned Party or a member of the family of that person, being a member who forms part of the household of that person.​ (2) This Agreement does not apply to a resident of the territory of one Party who enters the territory of the other Party for the specific purpose of seeking treatment unless that person is a member of the crew or passenger on any ship, vessel or aircraft travelling to, leaving from, or diverted to the territory of the other Party and the need for the treatment arose during the voyage or flight. (3) In paragraph (1), "temporarily in the territory" means: (a) in relation to the territory of the United Kingdom, present but not ordinarily resident in that territory; and.​ ​ (b) in relation to the territory of Australia, present in that territory for a period not exceeding 6 months.​

Article 3​

A resident of the territory of one Party, being a person to whom this Agreement applies, who needs immediate medical treatment while in the territory of the other Party, shall be provided with such medical treatment as is clinically necessary for the diagnosis, alleviation or care of the condition requiring attention, on terms no less favourable than would apply to a resident of the latter territory.

Article 4​

(1) Neither Party shall be liable to make any payment to the other Party in respect of medical treatment provided in accordance with this Agreement. (2) Any charge which falls due in respect of medical treatment provided in the territory of a Party by virtue of this Agreement shall be borne by the person in respect of whom the medical treatment is provided. (3) Each Party shall send to the other as soon as possible details of any changes in laws or regulations in force in their respective territories which may significantly affect the nature and scope of services provided under this Agreement. (4) The Parties may agree, at any time, to amend this Agreement. (5) Matters relating to the interpretation or application of this Agreement shall be resolved by consultation between the Parties.

Article 5​

(1) This Agreement shall enter into force on the first day of January 2006 and shall remain in force until the expiration of 12 months from the date on which either Party receives from the other written notice through the diplomatic channel of its intention to terminate this Agreement. (2) In the event that this Agreement is terminated in accordance with paragraph (1), the Agreement shall continue to have effect in relation to medical treatment which had been or was being provided prior to or at the expiry of the period of the notice referred to in that paragraph.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF the undersigned, duly authorised thereto by their respective Governments, have signed this Agreement. DONE in duplicate at Edinburgh this 10th day of November 2005.

FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF AUSTRALIA:​	FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND:​