Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has left the door open to scrapping the luxury car tax as Australia inches closer to finalising a long-awaited free trade deal with the European Union.
In Johannesburg for this weekend’s G20 leaders' summit, Mr Albanese held a trilateral meeting with senior European Union figures Ursula von der Leyen and Antonio Costa "to edge the deal a little closer" after seven years of negotiations.
Earlier, Mr Albanese put negotiators on notice, telling reporters he wants the deal with the massive trading bloc finalised within months.
"What I'd like to see is it finalised in the first quarter of 2026. This would be very important," he said at a doorstop in Freedom Park in Pretoria.
His Trade Minister Don Farrell has been reluctant to stipulate a timeline but met with his EU counterpart in Melbourne last week to progress the deal.
Negotiations on a free trade deal started in 2018 and were briefly derailed by a diplomatic stoush on submarines before collapsing altogether in an Osaka hotel in 2023.
However, the re-election of US President Donald Trump, and the global uncertainty caused by his tariffs has motivated both sides to return to the negotiating table.
While the bulk of the agreement has been settled, the key sticking point, up to this point, has been the market access for Australian beef, mutton, lamb and sugar.
In exchange for the EU removing some of its barriers to agricultural imports, Australia has previously hinted it would scrap, or lower, the $1 billion luxury car tax, a bugbear for European carmakers.
When asked on Friday if that offer was still on the table, Mr Albanese said he would be discussing "a range of issues" with his EU counterparts.
"I think we've been quite successful at not ruling things in or out at press conferences, but engaging in a respectful way with our partners," he said.
"I think that free and fair trade is very much in Australia's national interests."
Signalling her desire to get this deal done sooner rather than later, Ms von der Leyen told the prime minister: "The last mile is always the hardest."
Quad hopes
Ahead of a bilateral meeting with India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Mr Albanese expressed his hope that the Quad leaders’ summit would still take place next year, despite a deepening rift between India and the United States.
India was supposed to host this year's meeting but it has been postponed indefinitely after President Trump — who has shown little interest in the security partnership — signalled he would not be attending.
The Quad, which includes Australia, the US, India and Japan, was established to push back against China’s military aggression in the Indo-Pacific region.
Mr Albanese said he was hopeful that the meeting would take place in India “in the first quarter next year”.
"Australia will always participate in it. I'll be talking with the new Japanese Prime Minister as well over the next couple of days," he said.
The US President and his administration have boycotted this weekend's G20 leaders' summit — the first to be held on African soil — over debunked claims the South African government is persecuting white farmers.
Mr Albanese said he "encouraged all countries to participate before defending the importance of major multilateral forums like the G20.
"We engage in bilateral forums, but you need multilateral forums as well where you get that engagement across the board," he said.
"And that is why the G20 is so important."
