The hypocrisy at the heart of the LNP’s migration rhetoric

The LNP’s mixed messages on immigration risk undermining attempts to court multicultural Australia, writes Khushaal Vyas.

SPEECHES OF THE OPPOSITION LEADER Angus Taylor and Senator Jacinta Price Thursday’s news is a perfect encapsulation of the Liberal National Party’s breathtaking hypocrisy towards immigrants and the no man’s land they find themselves in today.

Taylor spending her Thursday I’m trying to take it to court Senator Price on Chinese-Australian budget response was busy accepting With the idea that Australia is being “flooded” by immigrants of Chinese, Indian, Middle Eastern and African origin. Going further, Price appeared to imply that many people are not committed to Australian values.

The breathtaking hypocrisy that, on the one hand, woos immigrants and, on the other hand, makes them the center of public attention, is once again laid bare. It did not go unnoticed.

Of course, I suspect the LNP’s response to my remarks will be that we need to be able to have a sensible conversation about immigration. Of course, don’t worry; I’m very happy for you. However, if the LNP really wanted to have this conversation they would be talking about immigration in general rather than highlighting specific backgrounds.

In fact, as an Australian of Indian descent, it is extremely disappointing to see a mainstream party embrace the idea that some origins are clearly “more Australian” than others.

But the consequences of this rhetoric go beyond my personal grievance. It normalizes exclusionary narratives that have long been confined to the far right, and emboldens those whose particular ethnic backgrounds are less deserving of belonging in Australia.

Simply put, it fuels racist fires that I hope, perhaps naively, Australia has long since moved on from.

Unfortunately, the dog whistling didn’t end there. Afterwards wrong Linking the housing crisis to immigration, Taylor’s latest proposal is to block permanent residents from 17 welfare programs, effectively penalizing these residents for not having an Australian passport. This is despite the fact that the same residents pay the same taxes as the rest of us.

This is another example of the LNP’s decision to lump Australians in with immigrants rather than genuinely trying to understand the immigrant experience.

In fact, becoming an Australian citizen comes at a cost for many immigrants from countries that do not allow dual citizenship. Beyond the often emotional choice to renounce the nationality of one’s country of birth, this can have very real consequences for individuals (including additional barriers to visiting family abroad and legal status to manage overseas accounts and assets). It was not born out of some anti-Australian or disloyal sentiment.

The pointlessness of the LNP’s divisive strategy is that it has excluded many aspiring immigrants who might otherwise form part of its base. And yet, despite all this, I’m sure we’ll see LNP representatives shaking hands at multicultural events, making crowd-pleasing speeches and wishing everyone good luck. Happy Eid-al-AdhaHappy diwali or Gong Hei Fat Choi.

But in the next breath, these same representatives will be ready to parrot the rhetoric that betrays these very communities. It’s not hard to spot hypocrisy. But come the next election, it seems inevitable that the LNP will still be somehow doomed to wonder why people won’t vote for it.