The historic visit to Australia by the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen marked the end of an eight-year long process to secure a free trade agreement.
7.30's political editor Jacob Greber reports. And Sarah Ferguson interviews Trade Minister Don Farrell.
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The world we live in is brutal, harsh, and unforgiving. It feels upside down. What we knew as certainties are in question. The comfort blanket of yesterday is ripped away.
Von der Leyen also the first foreign female leader to address the parliament, warning Australians they face a new world in which dependencies can be weaponized increasingly by nations regarded as traditional friends. A world where great powers are using tariffs as leverage and supply chains as vulnerabilities to be exploited.
Trust matters more than transactions. It is a story of building strength at home and diversifying abroad through a reliable network of agreements that we respect and uphold.
I think this agreement sends a message as well to the world that it is possible to stick to the rules.
Behind today's rhetoric, the signing of a trade agreement with the EU's 450 million consumers. The benefits, according to the government, include an eight-fold increase in Australian beef exports, new mobility rules for Australian professionals who want to move to Europe, and a loosening of Australia's luxury car tax threshold for electric vehicle imports.
This agreement is worth $10 billion to the Australian economy on an annual basis. More than eight years in the making and given fresh impetus by Donald Trump's trade wars, the deal has not won over the coalition, which is angry the government accepted tight quota limits on beef exporters.
Nowhere is the need for collective resilience more evident than in critical raw materials. And this is why I'm very happy that today we agreed to step up our cooperation.
With the air of a super teal, Ursula Von der Leyen's speech found a mostly appreciative audience across much of the parliament. She applauded Australia's shift away from fossil fuel energy.
Just a question about the fuel crisis. First of all, the energy minister announced today changes to diesel standards. Is this an indication of how worried the government is about supply, particularly going into next month?
Sarah, look, we did something similar with petrol a few weeks ago. Obviously we want to ensure that motorists continue to get supply. This is one lever that Minister Rabyan has and he's exercised that lever to put more diesel into the system just as we did a couple of weeks ago with petrol.
Leyen, U. V. D. (2026, March 24). Australia signs long-awaited free trade deal with European Union | 7.30 [Interview transcript]. ABC News In-depth. CEOInterviews.AI. https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/781889/
MLA
Ursula von der Leyen. "Australia signs long-awaited free trade deal with European Union | 7.30." ABC News In-depth, 24 Mar. 2026. Transcript, CEOInterviews.AI, https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/781889/.
BibTeX
@misc{leyen2026_781889,
author = {Ursula von der Leyen},
title = {Australia signs long-awaited free trade deal with European Union | 7.30},
howpublished = {Interview transcript, ABC News In-depth. CEOInterviews.AI},
year = {2026},
month = {mar},
url = {https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/781889/},
note = {Speaker-attributed transcript with timestamps}
}
