Live: Albanese to seek tighter rules for British backpackers in meeting with UK PM

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will seek a tightening of rules for British backpackers coming to Australia when he meets his UK counterpart this week.

Follow all the updates in our live blog. 

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Mon 2 Nov 2026 at 7:07amMon 2 Nov 2026 at 7:07am

PM to seek change to UK free trade agreement at CHOGM

By Sara Tomevska

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will seek a tightening of rules for British backpackers coming to Australia when he meets his UK counterpart this week at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Antigua.

In what will be his first official bilateral discussion with UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham, Albanese will seek to reverse part of the Morrison-era UK free trade agreement (FTA) that exempt British backpackers from regional and rural work.

The 2021 decision has seen the number of British backpacker visas double to nearly 80,000 per year.

The government has already imposed a lottery system to stem the flow of working holiday makers and issued a go-slow on processing UK backpacker visas in an attempt to bring down net overseas migration.

While the FTA is already law, it's understood regional work rules could be reimposed on British working holiday makers with the consent of the UK government.

Mon 2 Nov 2026 at 6:59amMon 2 Nov 2026 at 6:59am

Good morning 👋

By Joshua Boscaini

Hello and welcome to our federal politics live blog! It's great to have you join us for the start of a new week here on the hill.

I'm Josh Boscaini joining you live from Parliament House in Canberra, here and ready for another day in federal politics news.

The prime minister has arrived in Antigua in the Caribbean  to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.

He's expected to meet with the new UK PM Andy Burnham and seek a change to the Australia-UK free trade agreement.

Let's get this thing on the road!