Anthony Albanese has lashed Opposition Leader Angus Taylor over the Coalition immigration policy, claiming his estimate for migration levels was “plucked out”.
Mr Taylor delivered the Coalition’s budget reply before parliament on Thursday, including measures which would tie net overseas migration to housing completion and index the bottom two tax brackets at inflation.
If elected, the Coalition would also lock non-citizens, including permanent residents, out of the NDIS and 17 social benefit schemes.
Mr Taylor has refused to reveal what number of new arrivals a Coalition government would accept – stating it would be tied to housing completions – but told Sky News on Sunday it would be a 70 per cent reduction on “Labor’s peak immigration numbers”, and well below 200,000.
Currently, Treasury estimates net overseas migration to be 295,000 for the 2025–26 financial year.
Speaking later, Mr Albanese said Mr Taylor’s 70 per cent figure was “plucked out”.
“Seventy per cent from what base … who’d know. You don’t know, and he wouldn’t know either,” he told media in Tasmania.
Mr Albanese said he had never seen a “senior politician from a mainstream political party speak about Australians and migrants as if they are separate things in this country”.
“In this country, with the exception of First Nations people, we’re are all either migrants or descendants of migrants going back generations,” he said.
“When you look at permanent residents, they contribute much more in taxation revenue than they do in any cost which might be associated with that.”
Mr Albanese said Mr Taylor’s speech was “all about fighting One Nation”, and – flanked by Tasmania’s Liberal Premier Jeremy Rockcliff – pledged to “work across the political spectrum”.
‘Price you pay’
Mr Taylor denied on Sunday the measure would force permanent residents, who may have remained in Australia for decades, from becoming citizens.
Instead, he said it was their “choice to become an Australian citizen”.
“But, if you don’t want to become a citizen, there is a price you pay for that,” he told Sky News.
“I mean, look, Australian citizenship has to matter. We live in one of the greatest countries in the world.
“Those who come here and don’t want to be citizens, they still get a great benefit of being part of what I believe is the greatest country on earth.”
Mr Taylor denied the measure was targeting a particular nationality, despite concern from Chinese and Indian Australians whose mother countries do not recognise dual citizenship.
“We allow dual citizenship in this country,” Mr Taylor said.
“Other countries make choices about that, we don’t control that. That is up to them.
“But, we must attach privileges to Australian citizenship. That’s what we’re proposing here.”
Mr Taylor said while Australia would continue to recognise dual citizenship “some people will have to make a choice”.
“If you want the full privileges of being a citizen, you must commit to the country,” he said.
Mr Taylor denied the measures showed the Coalition was panicked about the rise of One Nation.
“We are upset and deeply, deeply concerned, by the failures of this Labor government. That’s the real issue,” he said.
Questions over quotas, costings
Mr Taylor has yet to reveal by what exactly the Coalition’s net migration target will be – or how much the benefit changes would save.
“There’s many billions of saving, there’s no doubt about that,” he said.
“We’ll put all our costings out, as is the convention … in the lead up to the election. But, it’s many billions of savings in this.”
Mr Taylor refused to be drawn on what migration levels would be under the Coalition’s cuts, with levels tied to housing completion rates.
“Right now, we know that it would be at least a 70 per cent reduction from Labor’s peak immigration numbers – (that) would be well below 200,000,” he said.
Asked about the need for more tradies, Mr Taylor there was a need to not just bring down immigration numbers but also “get the standards up”.
“That includes making sure we’ve got we’re getting the skills we need,” he said.
Mr Taylor said the Coalition would not oppose Labor’s $250 Working Australians Tax Offset in the Senate, guaranteeing its passage through both houses and into law.
‘Least responsible’
Treasurer Jim Chalmers told the ABC later Mr Taylor’s budget reply was “the least responsible” that he had seen.
Referring to tax bracket changes, Mr Chalmers said it would add “a quarter of a trillion dollars over the decade” in debt.
“When you provide these tax cuts, you have to do it in the most responsible and affordable way and you have to take into consideration the economic conditions at the time,” he said.
“What Angus Taylor is proposing to do is to pump the most money into the economy when inflation is already at its highest.”
Mr Chalmers said the government would return bracket creep – when inflation pushes workers into a higher tax bracket – and in the budget “created room to return more in the future”.
