Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is worried political instability in the UK could delay the free trade deal between the two countries. Liz Truss announced on Thursday she was resigning as PM after a tumultuous 44 days in office.
Mr Albanese said: "I’m concerned about any delay that would occur to the Australia–UK free trade agreement. I had discussed with Prime Minister Truss the fast-tracking of that.
"We discussed trying to get it concluded before the end of this year, to make sure that the appropriate parliamentary processes went through our respective parliaments.”
The resignation of Ms Truss, which followed weeks of financial turmoil in the wake of then chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s calamitous £45 billion mini-budget, comes just six weeks after Boris Johnson left No 10. That means Mr Albanese will soon meet his third British PM in the five months since Australians brought his Labor Party to power.
He said: "My government is stable, is orderly. The adults are in charge. I’ve been in office for five months. I’ve met the two British prime ministers, so far, and I obviously will have contact with a third at some time when those issues are concluded."
Mr Albanese met Ms Truss when he visited the UK for the Queen’s funeral last month. He met Mr Johnson at a Nato summit in June.
