UK working holiday-makers can stay in Australia for three years without a specific work requirement, but tweaks to that were on the table at a meeting Prime Minister Anthony Albanese held with his British counterpart Andy Burnham in the Caribbean.
The British premier is still weighing up the proposal after Mr Albanese raised it at the rendezvous on the margins of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Antigua and Barbuda.
Other countries' citizens need 88 days' regional work to enter a tightening ballot for second- and third-year working holiday visas, under sweeping migration changes Labor announced in August.
But British backpackers enjoy a carve-out to that condition courtesy of a UK free-trade agreement inked by the Scott Morrison-led coalition government in 2021.
It was an issue Mr Albanese said he was very keen to address before jetting off for the Caribbean.
"Those UK backpackers are arriving in very large numbers, much greater than they were previously to that (free trade) arrangement," he said before his departure.
The exemption contributed to British backpacker arrivals surging to nearly 80,000 in the year to June 30, putting upward pressure on migration-driven population growth Labor is determined to tame.
But the prime minister on Tuesday said he was not seeking a full reversal to the free-trade deal's provisions, which cannot be changed on a whim.
"We'll have respectful discussions ... what we're after is putting forward the benefits that backpackers who travel to Australia have in having the full Australian experience, not just experiencing Coogee and Bondi," Mr Albanese said.
"You can't impose changes once an FTA is in place."
The meeting with Mr Burnham came after Mr Albanese warned world leaders about growing threats to democracy, after an alleged attack on Australian independent MP Helen Haines, which resulted in her having both legs amputated.
"Threats against elected representatives are ... increasing, especially against women, and inevitably, some of these threats have been followed through," he said during a speech to foreign dignitaries.
He also mixed with the likes of King Charles III and resources magnate Andrew Forrest on the mining billionaire's green energy-powered boat, to announce an initiative aimed at protecting 30 per cent of the world's land and ocean by 2030.
"Has he lost his mind, or has he completely lost touch?" opposition spokesman James Paterson asked Nine's Today show upon learning of the glamorous event.
It's one of a volley of criticisms opponents have directed at the prime minister for making the trip while Tuesday's Reserve Bank rate rise intensifies cost-of-living pressures back home.
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