Unrestricted European migration was a major factor behind the push for Brexit. The Coalition has also moved to ease fears over congestion and employment in Australia by cutting the permanent migration cap from 190,000 to 160,000 a year.

Senator Birmingham said he expected possible tweaks to existing immigration rules to allow “more flexibility”,but stressed his priority was sealing a free trade deal focused on giving Australian exporters easier access to the lucrative British market.

He pledged to canvass public opinion on any changes to “kinks” in the existing migration regime.

“How you draw the line around rights to access work visas and other visas is a different question,that has an entire spectrum of grey,between the black and white of no movement and unfettered movement,” he said.

The UK’s departure from the European Union means it must seal new free trade terms with major economies,including the United States and Australia.

The UK is Australia’s eighth-largest trading partner,with two-way trade valued at $26.9 billion in 2018. Britain is also the second-largest source of total foreign investment in Australia.

Britain will formally leave the EU on January 31 but the existing economic,customs and migration relationship will remain in place for one more year while the two parties thrash out a new trading and security pact.

Senator Birmingham met his UK counterpart over Christmas and hopes a deal can be struck and ratified by the December 2020 deadline that Britain has set itself to finalise a new post-Brexit relationship with Europe.

Mr Johnson’s legislation makes it illegal to extend the one-year transition window,making a “hard” Brexit a possibility in December 2020 if the negotiations collapse or take too long to complete and ratify,as some experts have predicted.

Senator Birmingham said the UK and EU were in “uncharted waters” but expressed confidence a deal can be struck in such a short timeframe. He predicted this would give Australian businesses and investors final confidence and certainty.

“Those uncharted waters also mean unprecedented outcomes can probably be achieved,” he said.

“The incentive to get a deal done has got to be significant given how much is at stake,so I expect given how much clarity and certainty the UK election provided,that goodwill exists on both sides of the Channel to nut out out a deal.”