Brexit Britain invited to form CANZUK super alliance: 'Nothing like EU'
| Published date | 11 February 2021 |
| Publication title | Express, The/The Express on Sunday: Web Edition Articles (London, England) |
He said: "Very early on, when Brexit was being mooted, I was one of those first in Australia to be promoting the CANZUK proposal of Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the UK becoming a trading and social bloc.
"Those four countries have a very similar heritage.
"The UK has done a great service to the world at large in relation to how it has done its democracy.
"From an absolute monarchy to where we are now.
"Its traditions and history are fantastic and those traditions and history are embedded in Canada, New Zealand and Australia.”
He added: "Having CANZUK would be a great opportunity for people's exchanges as well.
"We have such a robust security system. We trust each other. We are able to trust each other's passports.
"I could not imagine anybody saying I want to be a refugee from the UK and go to Australia or New Zealand or Canada.
"Basically, we have the same standards of living and I don't think we would be in danger if we had more relaxed people's movement opportunities."
CANZUK International founder James Skinner echoed Mr Abetz's claims.
Explaining the policy to Express.co.uk, he said: “The vision for it is really founded on the principle of these four countries working together as sovereign independent nations for the betterment of their economies and opportunities for their citizens.
“The way we promote that is through three objectives. The first would be reciprocal migration whereby citizens of these countries could freely live and work in the other countries, minus a few stipulations and requirements.
JUST IN: EU blunder as UK spent seven times more than bloc on vaccines
“Then free trade between these countries would maximise trading potential opening up trade to [markets worth] about $3.5trillion .
“The third aspect would be foreign policy cooperation so acting as sovereign nations we could improve on the relations we already have.”
A poll of 13,600 people in 2018 for CANZUK International found overwhelming support for free movement in all four nations.
The policy was backed by 82 percent of New Zealanders, 76 percent of Canadians, 73 percent of Australians and 68 percent of Britons.
Canada’s main opposition, the Conservative Party of Canada, has adopted support for CANZUK as one of its official positions.
Mr Skinner emphasised the proposal is very different from the...
To continue reading
Request your trial