Our Platform: Campaigning for stronger CANZUK ties
A plan for future cooperation between four countries with a shared history
Our movement is made of volunteers from Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom (CANZUK). We believe our countries enjoy a unique bond thanks to our shared history and common values. We encourage our governments to work closely together and combine their efforts to promote our mutual interests.
Our platform has seven tenets: Trade, Mobility, Trust, Diplomacy, Security, Research and Sovereignty. Together they advance a plan to provide economic and social benefits to all four countries without intruding on national autonomy.
Trade
We believe that all trade in goods and services between Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom should be absolutely free of tariffs and quotas.
The Closer Economic Relations (CER) agreement between Australia and New Zealand is an exemplar of effective free trade. The two countries eliminated all tariffs and quantitative restrictions on trade in 1990. They also agreed to treat providers of services from each other’s countries the same as providers from their own.
The economies of both Australia and New Zealand have grown and become more efficient as a result of CER. The agreement has helped create jobs and delivered more choice and lower prices for consumers on both sides of the Tasman Sea.
Successive governments in both nations have rejected calls for the creation of a customs union with a common external tariff. Australia and New Zealand are free to strike additional free trade agreements with other nations independently of each other. They have also safeguarded sovereignty by rejecting calls for a currency union.
CER illustrates how Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom can create a mutually beneficial common market without ceding national autonomy.
Mobility
We believe that citizens of Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom should be granted reciprocal rights to live and work freely in each other’s countries.
A free flow of people already exists between Australia and New Zealand thanks to the Trans-Tasman Travel Arrangement (TTTA). Evidence shows freedom of movement has helped underpin economic growth in both countries.
TTTA includes a number of safeguards that help ensure the right people migrate for the right reasons. Both countries retain the right to refuse entry to anyone with a criminal conviction that resulted in imprisonment or a suspended sentence. Both operate health screening to prevent the spread of infectious diseases like tuberculosis.
Both countries apply ‘waiting periods’ for certain rights and privileges. An Australian migrating to New Zealand must wait two-years for welfare provision and five-years for eligibility for citizenship. This prevents ‘benefits tourism’.
Australia and New Zealand have a Reciprocal Health Care Agreement (RHCA). This means a New Zealand national admitted as a public patient in an Australian public hospital will not be be charged for any essential medical treatment.
TTTA provides a sound model for a new agreement extending reciprocal living and working rights to citizens of Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.
Trust
We believe Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom should recognise each other’s product and service standards and professional qualifications.
Australia and New Zealand lead the way in mutual recognition. Any products that can already be legally sold in one country can also be sold in the other. The two nations see no need for further testing or conformance assessment. They trust one another.
Under the same arrangement, people who are registered to practice an occupation in one country are able to seek automatic registration to practice an equivalent occupation in the other, without being required to undertake further testing.
Some examples of mutual recognition also exist in the United Kingdom. Any person who has fully qualified as a teacher in Australia, Canada or New Zealand can apply to teach in England without having to complete conversion training.
Full mutual recognition can facilitate the free flow of goods and skilled personnel between Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.
Diplomacy
We believe Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom should create common embassy complexes to increase the exchange of ideas and deliver value for money.
Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden provide the blueprint. “Out of a sense of common heritage, common languages and shared values and convictions” they established the Nordic Embassies complex in Berlin in 1999.
At the opening of the Nordic Embassies, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark used the motto “each autonomous, and yet together” to describe how five countries can co-locate and collaborate while retaining full sovereignty and diplomatic autonomy.
The acronym CANZUK was formulated in diplomatic circles because Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the UK frequently cooperate on the world stage. As with Nordic nations, the relationship stems from a common heritage and shared values.
Canada and Australia already have an agreement to provide consular services to citizens of each other’s countries. This provides nationals with essential access to assistance in places where their country does not have a diplomatic mission.
Canada and the UK have gone a step further by sharing properties in places such as Baghdad, Monterrey and Port au Prince. This has provided an effective platform for collaboration and increased administrative efficiency.
The logical next step is for Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the UK to establish their first common embassy complex in the model of the Nordic Embassies.
Security
We believe Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom should work together in the first duty of any government, the protection of the public.
The four nations have a common military heritage and arrangements where citizens can serve in each other’s armed forces. We believe officer exchanges and joint training exercises should be broadened and deepened where possible.
As part of the Five Eyes intelligence network, as well as other alliances, we recognise that ties with the United States are important and should be maintained. We believe CANZUK cooperation can create a more balanced relationship with the US.
We recognise that the four nations have a joint interest in maintaining open and secure trade routes and we advocate military collaboration be focused on this. It is important to clarify that we do not seek a system where countries are pulled into wars they do not support. Decisions around military engagement should always reside with national governments.
We seek collaboration in the research, design and purchase of military equipment. Together the four nations can increase efficiency and achieve cost savings. We recognise that the nuclear deterrent is too politically divisive to be a realistic area for collaboration.
Research
We believe Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom can collaborate in advancing scientific knowledge for common betterment of mankind.
The four nations collectively have a research footprint which outweighs their population, and a reputation for quality over quantity. We believe cooperation can and should be deepened to help cultivate an open culture in which science can flourish.
As Australia, New Zealand and the UK are islands and Canada has the world's longest coastline, there is clear scope for collaboration on marine science. Together the four nations can play a leading role in the conservation of our seas, shores and wildlife.
Sovereignty
We believe in the independence of Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom and have no desire to encroach on each nation’s autonomy.
The previous six tenets of our platform include clear sovereignty safeguards which are designed to prevent supranational overreach.
We do not believe there is any need or public appetite for the creation of institutions that transcend national boundaries such as an overarching parliament, judiciary or armed forces. We believe sovereignty should reside with national parliaments.
Copyright © canzuk.org 2017. All rights reserved.
No part of this article may be reproduced without written consent from the canzuk.org team. If you are interested in reproducing and redistributing this article, please contact us here.
Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is one of the staunchest opponents of the UK’s departure from the EU. The Scottish National Party leader complains vociferously about Scotland being taken out the EU against its will. In a series of speeches and papers, she has expressed an unwavering desire to remain in the ‘European family of nations’.
Trade is lifeblood of nations, and the CANZUK nations have the chance to achieve something unique in the modern world. If you're familiar with the CANZUK concept, you will be aware that trade deals would certainly form part of any such agreement, along with freedom of movement.