Politics before policy – Why the PM’s intervention turned ‘nature positive’ into a ‘nature negative’ Nature hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons in late 2024, when the Prime Minister put the brakes on the Federal Government’s proposed ‘nature positive’ legislation. Bowing to pressure from the mining lobby and...
In June 2018, the European Union and Australia formally opened negotiations for a free trade agreement. Australia is presently ranked as the EU’s nineteenth largest trading partner in goods, while the EU is Australia’s third largest trading partner.
The proposed trade agreement between the EU and Australia is viewed by both parties as an opportunity to increase trade and the deal is likely to further increase trade – or, at a minimum, increase trade opportunities – in animal agricultural products, including meat, egg and dairy products. Likewise, while Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) open markets, create business and employment opportunities, and can increase economic growth, new increased access to markets also leads to increases in legal and illegal trade in a wide variety of products, including wildlife and wildlife products.
