Liberal senator breaks ranks to take aim at Angus Taylor’s ‘negative’ rhetoric on immigration | Liberal party
A Liberal senator has criticized Angus Taylor’s plan to deny non-citizens access to welfare, warning it would create “two types of members in society” and was “not the Australian way”.
Outspoken Andrew McLachlan said immigrants should not be blamed for economic problems including the housing crisis and warned his party’s immigration rhetoric was alienating diaspora communities.
The opposition leader dismissed his colleague’s concerns by defending the use of the phrase “mass migration” to describe the proportion of people coming abroad.
“IT [the rhetoric] It just alienates the misunderstanding government, which is irrelevant. [migrant] Taylor told reporters on Tuesday.
Taylor made immigration a focus of his budget response speech last week. If the coalition wins the next election, it has promised to significantly reduce temporary immigration by tying it to housing construction and restrict the national disability insurance scheme and 17 types of welfare programs to Australian citizens.
This will prevent migrants, including permanent residents, from being able to access jobseeking, age pension, disability support, parenting payments and the NDIS, even if they have paid tax.
The announcements have caused unease among some Liberal MPs who now believe One Nation’s Pauline Hanson is dictating their party’s agenda.
Speaking on the ABC’s RN Breakfast on Tuesday, McLachlan warned that Taylor’s citizens-only welfare policy risked creating a two-tiered society.
“I have deep concerns that we will create two types of members of a multicultural community in the future with this package of policies,” the South Australian senator said. “I’m not sure this will lead to a healthy Australian society.
“If you both contribute to the wealth of the nation and [only] if you have certain rights you can almost have a stratification of our society.
“I’m not sure that’s the Australian way or that that’s what our societies want.”
McLachlan said the Coalition’s rhetoric was alienating immigrant communities who abandoned the Liberal party in droves in the last two elections.
“I don’t think we should approach the issue of immigration negatively. Of course, it needs to be controlled and we don’t want to invite people here without creating a society that can accommodate them both economically and culturally, but we cannot continue to blame immigrants for the problems of our economy.”
Immigrant groups last week condemned the Coalition’s policy as “a dangerous escalation of repulsive policies targeting communities of color” rather than a serious response to the housing crisis.
“We are not in Trump’s America,” said Noura Mansour, national director of Colored Democracy.
Coalition leaders argued that the welfare ban, which does not apply to people already accessing the payments, would encourage immigrants to seek citizenship.
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 motivated citizens who start their applications as soon as possible could be left without aid for at least four years.
Some countries, including China, do not recognize dual citizenship; This means that applicants will lose their rights in their home country after committing in Australia.
Taylor defended the policy on Tuesday, arguing that it was in the national interest to “put citizens first.”
“Citizenship is important in this country and we welcome those who have made citizenship commitments, we will abide by them,” the opposition leader said.
The internal turmoil came as a parliamentary inquiry into skilled migration heard warnings that reducing uptake would lead to a crisis in the care sector.
Leah Williams Veazey, a sociologist at the University of Sydney, told Tuesday’s hearing: “Immigrants did not cause the housing crisis, and reducing immigration will not solve the housing crisis, but it will give us a care crisis.”
“We already have an incredible shortage of doctors, nurses, physical therapists and other allied health workers.”
Last week the Business Council of Australia also warned that significant cuts to immigration could worsen existing labor shortages.
Anthony Albanese said Taylor’s budget response announcements focused on “tackling One Nation”.
“We shouldn’t be trying to divide Australians, we should be trying to bring Australians together,” the Prime Minister said.
McLachlan also sent a warning to the Liberals considering switching allegiance to One Nation after former colleagues Hollie Hughes and former party deputy leader Teena McQueen joined Hanson’s party.
“You’re doing it wrong,” he said.
“If you want to share liberal values, you shouldn’t look for a wrong path and a broad path that doesn’t include policies that will improve the lives of Australians.”
