A Coalition government would restrict access to welfare payments to Australian citizens
- Written by Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra
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.
Future eligibility to the National Disability Insurance Scheme would also be restricted to them.
But there would be grandfathering arrangements for those already on welfare and the NDIS.
There would also be carve outs for humanitarian entrants, emergency assistance programs, and domestic violence and child protection services.
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.
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 esrtimates 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”.
Authors: Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra
