Opposition Leader Angus Taylor says a Coalition government would restrict access to welfare benefits to Australian citizens.
Taylor will include the controversial policy in his Thursday night budget reply. It will be seen as an obvious pitch to those voters who are currently supporting One Nation. But the policy, which would hit permanent residents as well as other non-citizens, will be highly controversial.
The payments that would be affected range from the family tax benefit and carer payment to Austudy and the farm household allowance.
Under the plan, access to 17 welfare payments and benefits would be available only to Australian citizens.
At present, newly-arrived residents can obtain these benefits with either no wait or waits of up to four years.
Eligibility for the age pension and disability support pension would still need a ten year residency requirement, but be limited to citizens.
As well, there would be specific exemptions to cover for some defence, intelligence and law enforcement arrangements.
The opposition also says the Coalition would continue to honour existing international social security agreements.
Opposition Leader Angus Taylor has outlined the coalition’s plan to cut welfare for migrants
Existing arrangements would be kept for eligible New Zealand Special Category visa holders currently covered under the NDIS framework.
Taylor told a Thursday news conference his budget reply would have a focus on ‘putting Australians first’.
He said the restricted access would not apply to health services.
‘We’ve got, right now, a government that is slashing support for private health insurance for older Australians, and at the same time dishing out billions and billions of dollars to people in this country who are not citizens for welfare,’ Taylor said.
‘That’s not fair on hardworking Australian citizens. That’s not fair on people who have committed to this country for many years, and this is people who may well have come to this country and become citizens.
‘And the simple principle is this: if you commit to this country, we’ll commit to you, and that’s how it should be.
‘That’s the Australia I grew up in, and it’s the Australia I want to see again.’
Taylor said the changes would save billions over the forward estimates but did not give figures.
The Greens condemned the plan. David Shoebridge, immigration spokesman, said ‘Angus Taylor clearly has Pauline Hanson living rent-free in his head’.
This article originally appeared on The Conversation
