Angus Taylor accused of ‘dog-whistling’ and marginalising immigrants over plan to cut benefits to non-citizens | Angus Taylor

Anthony Albanese accused Angus Taylor of copying One Nation and “whistling the dog” to marginalize immigrants to Australia as the Coalition sought to cut benefits and government programs for permanent residents.

Delivering his budget response speech on Thursday night, the opposition leader announced plans to reduce immigration and limit welfare programs to citizens only. This would cut off access to the national disability insurance scheme, jobseekers and other safety nets for permanent residents who have lived in Australia and paid taxes for years.

While there are waiting periods of years to access such payments, meaning the scheme could have relatively little impact, the Labor government has lashed out at Taylor for targeting immigrants, following previous plans to restrict first home-buying grants to citizens.

The Prime Minister claimed the Coalition was emulating One Nation’s hardline anti-immigrant stance.

“This Coalition is wagging its dog’s tail, and dog is an apt term because so much of the conversation was about dog whistling,” Albanese said.

“I’m wondering what the distinction is between Australians and immigrants, because I’ve never seen that used before in a country like ours.”

Taylor defended his stance in interviews on Friday, saying new immigrants “get automatic access to some benefits” and that this is “completely inappropriate.”

However, on ABC radio, Taylor was confirmed by host Melissa Clarke; Jobseekers’ payments have a four-year waiting period, while old age pension and disability support pensions have a 10-year waiting period, Clarke said.

Taylor responded: “Of course, but citizenship has to mean something. We want people to aspire to become Australian citizens.”

Gaining Australian citizenship requires that a person has been living in Australia on a valid visa for at least four years immediately before application date; This means that even willing citizens who start their applications as soon as possible will be left without aid for at least four years.

“We firmly believe the government’s priorities are wrong,” Taylor continued.

“At exactly the same time, they are extracting money from pensioners and older Australians by subsidizing private health insurance.”

Taylor also pledged to address what he called “mass immigration frenzy”, including a plan to link Australia’s immigration intake to the amount of new housing built.

It comes after his party’s votes lost Farrer’s long-held seat, which One Nation won last weekend. The Liberal candidate received only 12% of the primary vote; this was up from 43% for Sussan Ley just a year ago. Taylor’s opposition to the rise of One Nation, which has outperformed the Coalition in most major polls, has been accused by the government of copying Pauline Hanson’s policies.

A spokesman for the Australian Refugee Council sounded the alarm about the Coalition’s rhetoric.

“Australia needs leaders who aim to bring people together, not divide them. Migrants, refugees and people seeking asylum should not be used as scapegoats as Australia tries to solve policy failures on housing, cost of living or access to services,” they said.

“Most people who migrate to Australia want to become citizens, but this is a process that takes years. Proposals to exclude and penalize non-citizens only deepen the divide and unfairly target people who already contribute to Australian society.”

On Thursday, Hanson claimed Taylor was “on borrowed time with borrowed policies,” accusing him of “copying” his own policies for the budget response.

Albanese criticized Taylor’s rhetoric towards immigrants on Friday morning.

“We have people in our government who are in senior positions in business. Some of the business giants in this country came here as refugees and immigrants. Are they separate from Australians? We are a government that wants to represent all Australians everywhere.”

Treasurer Jim Chalmers called Taylor’s budget response “a ploy to fend off One Nation” and accused the opposition leader of inciting “further division in this country”.

Housing minister Clare O’Neil claimed the Liberals, Nationals and One Nation “wanted to defend the status quo, blame immigrants and say it’s everyone’s fault”.

“What I would say to Angus Taylor is, you can’t leave One Nation, One Nation behind. If people like what Pauline Hanson denigrates, they’re going to vote for them, not you,” O’Neil said Thursday.