The Australian Opposition has released its budget response, unveiling a plan it says is aimed at saving billions of dollars, decreasing migration intake, and tackling the national housing dilemma.
Speaking to Parliament as part of the Budget Reply, Liberal leader Angus Taylor outlined his plan for the future of Australia.
However his remarks have drawn criticism from the multicultural communities, particularly from Indian and Chinese groups which make up the largest proportion of migrants to Australia.
Chinese Australians have dismissed the Coalition plan as a borrowing its policy from the One Nation’s playbook.
Under the Coalition proposal, non-citizens will be denied access to some key components of the welfare system, including the NDIS, the age pension, and the jobseeker welfare programme.
The Asian Business Association of Whitehorse vice president Richard Shi said he was not happy to hear the plan.
“It definitely does sound like a one-nation policy,” Mr Shi said.
In addition, he said that, just like Australian citizens, most Chinese permanent residents actively participate in society and the economy, including paying taxes at all levels of government, but suddenly excluding them from welfare programme services is extremely unjust.
Similarly, the Indian community condemned the budget reply, with the founder of Charity for Australia, Amar Singh, saying the Coalition move is affecting the Indian community and threatening social cohesion.
“We always get pointed out for everything, but at the end of the day, Australia is built on migration,” Mr Singh said.
Younger Australias seem to agree.
RMIT University environment and society student Holly Medlyn said the Coalition’s impact will further hurt the already deteriorating living standards of people who have opted to come to Australia for a better life.
She referred to the Coalition move as discriminatory.
‘‘Taking away these welfare payments, and the little that is available to them, is just really despicable and racist,’’ she said.
The Coalition’s Migration Policy Reform seeks to bring down migration intake to 150,000-200,000 annually in what it says will tackle the housing dilemma across Australia.
Image generated by RMIT’s ChatGPT on 29 May 2026.
