Meeting with his EU counterparts on the sidelines of the G7 Trade Ministers’ meeting in Osaka in recent days, Trade Minister Don Farrell had hoped "to get the best possible deal for Australian farmers and... businesses", but said he was prepared to walk away if it wasn't good enough.
While Australia was willing to make some concessions, the EU "has not budged significantly on the offer put on the table three months ago", Agriculture Minister Murray Watt told the ABC on Monday morning.
"We would like to do a deal with the EU, but unfortunately they haven't been prepared to put on the table a significantly better offer than what they've offered before," Minister Watt said.
"We've been utterly consistent throughout this process that we would only enter a free trade agreement with the EU if it was in Australia's national interest, and in particular, if it offered new, commercially meaningful access to the European market for Australian agriculture, and that hasn't happened.
"I'm not sure whether it was about the impending election cycle that's coming in the EU or the political influence of their farmer lobbies, but we just weren't able to see the EU increase its offer for things like beef, sheep, dairy, sugar, enough for us to think that this deal was in Australia's national interest."
With the EU set to go to the polls next year, Minister Watt thinks it will be quite some time before talks resume.
"It's always much harder for countries and regions to negotiate these sorts of trade agreements on the eve of elections," he said.
"We've made clear to them that we think it's unlikely to occur within this current term of the Australian Parliament as well.
"So, I think it will be quite some time before any Australian government or any EU leadership is able to negotiate a deal, and that's a bit of a shame for both Australia and the EU."
Five years have now passed since FTA negotiations were launched, and many had hoped the most recent talks would see the deal inked, though Australian agriculture had been concerned it would become the sacrificial lamb at the 11th hour.
Last week, the industry called out Minister Farrell ahead of negotiation talks resuming, saying there should be no deal just for the sake of a deal.
National Farmers' Federation president David Jochinke thanked Minister Farrell and Minister Watt for "standing by Australian farmers and walking away from an unacceptable offer".
“It’s disappointing the Europeans weren’t willing to put something commercially meaningful on the table. This was always going to be a tough negotiation with no guarantee of an outcome," Mr Jochinke said.
“What was on offer would have hardwired protectionism into our trading relationship with Europe for another generation. It would have locked our farmers in at a disadvantage to competitors in New Zealand, Canada and South America.
"It should be clear to the EU... that Minister Farrell isn’t willing to throw Aussie farmers under the bus just to get the deal done.
“He’s held firm to protect Australia’s interests in the face of intense pressure from EU negotiators, and for that we’re incredibly grateful."