Writing in the Telegraph during his trip Down Under, Mr Johnson told the government: “It is time for Britain and Australia to set up a bilateral Free Labour Mobility Zone.”
Celebrating its 30th year in 2013, TNT Magazine has also been campaigning for this issue for the past six months, highlighting the plight of hardworking Antipodeans who have been forced to put their lives on hold due to ridiculous UKBA red tape.
For details of our UKBA Balls-Up campaign, click here: tntmagazine.com/ukba
Carol Driver, Group Editor at TNT Multimedia, said: “TNT strongly agrees with mayor Boris Johnson’s call – it must be made easier for hard-working Australians and Kiwis to visit and live in the UK.
“It is ludicrous that while Europeans can easily enter and stay in the UK, our Aussie and Commonwealth counterparts are being penalised.
“Through our UKBA Balls-Up campaign we have highlighted the plight of many Aussies and Kiwis who have found themselves caught in red tape, meaning their lives are put on hold.
“One New Zealander, who has been in London for nearly 10 years, who has been employed for that time, who is married and has two small children, is facing deportation due to bureaucracy – this short-sightedness must change.
“Let’s hope Boris’s words resonate with the PM and Home Secretary – and that these overdue changes are made to benefit the UK and our bilateral relationship with Australia.”
Citing a case study of a teacher called Sally, Mr Johnson wrote: “She isn’t a citizen of any of the 27 countries of the European Union. She is Australian; and she has been told to bog off by the authorities in our country because it was, they said, too much of a palaver to go through the business of ‘sponsoring’ her to stay.
“That is the infamous consequence, as we all know, of a historic and strategic decision that this country took in 1973. We betrayed our relationships with Commonwealth countries such as Australia and New Zealand, and entered into preferential trading arrangements with what was then the European Economic Community.”
