That UK Visa Wall !

Tony Abbott's decision to make the Queen's consort - Price Phillip - an Australian knight has tended to throw the spotlight on the relationship between the two countries.  Australians entering the United Kingdom find themselves in a queue to go through a gate labelled "Foreigners " - while citizens from the EU can freely move between it's national borders.

In particular, many young Australians seeking a European experience have difficulty getting a visa application with a work permit approved, and those that do are subjected to restrictions and time limitations.  The dice is severely loaded against travellers from the old "Commonwealth " countries  and that has been the subject of debate in Westminster.   This "Visa wall " seems to be an artificial barrier against citizens from Australia, Canada and New Zealand.

This was a concern when the United Kingdom was thinking of joining the EU.  One of the other EU rules demanded that imports into Britain from other EU countries be protected by tariffs imposed on goods from non EU sources, hence Australian apples would face a tariff barrier while Spanish apples would flow into the UK duty free.   The British entry severely damaged the trade balance between the UK and all Commonwealth countries.

Britain has promised it's citizens a referendum vote on continuing to remain in the EU and negotiations are under way to ease some of the edicts coming out of Brussels.  That seems to be a chance to clean up this Commonwealth Visa mess once and for all.

It is certainly an aim of the EU to create a borderless society with a common currency and no restrictions of movement between member countries, but allowing entry into Britain by those citizens who recognise the Queen as their head of state should be a purely British internal matter.  Gaining a Visa and entering the UK confers no right to visit other EU countries without the usual Visa approvals.

Granting entry rights to visitors is a matter for decision by the parliament of the country concerned, and here in Australia that decision is made in Canberra.     If the EU has enacted an over riding control over visitor protocol for all it's member states, that should be a prime subject for revision.  If Britain opts to allow free entry to Commonwealth citizens - as was the case before it entered the EU - then restoration in no way clashes with the lack of entry restrictions to those from other EU countries. Such an entry relates only to England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales - and goes no further.

This Commonwealth of Nations is a unique institution that has survived in an era of great change.  That the head of state for a number of nations lives in a far country is unusual and serves as the backbone of the Westminster system of government.  In many parts of the world, countries have adopted a Republican style of government and appoint a head of state by electing a president.  A change to this type of governing has a latent presence in Australia.

The UK should remind itself just how it lost it's American colonies about the same time as the first fleet arrived in Australia.   The issue at that time was taxation without representation, but in essence it was more a matter of failing to nurture the bonds between the two countries.  It would be very easy for the bonds linking the Commonwealth countries to the Mother country to fray unless they were constantly renewed and irritants removed.    This Visa issue is such a constant irritant.