The federal government announced on Monday it looked to save 1.3 billion dollars in the next four years with new budget measures targeting migrants.
From next July, migrants will have to wait three years instead of two to access a range of welfare payments including the Family Tax Benefit, Paid Parental Leave and Carer's Allowance.
The move was part of Treasurer Scott Morrison's Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook, which predicted that Australia would be back in the black by 2020.
But the announcement has been slammed by Federation of Ethnic Communities Councils of Australia (FECCA) chairperson Mary Patetsos, who called it a "worrying step".
"The relatively small amount of budgetary savings are going to impact quite severely on some of our most disadvantaged people, vulnerable families, and young children," she told SBS News.
"Restricting parental leave allowance for those families will create unnecessary hardship.
"FECCA's other reaction is to appeal to the government to reconsider this as an unnecessary impact on a vulnerable group. That doesn’t take away the fact that we understand there’s a need for fiscal constraint, but how that’s targeted and to whom, and to where that impact falls, is something that the government may reconsider."
Those bringing relatives over to Australia on a family visa will also need to guarantee their financial independence for three years.
There will be some “exemptions” for “vulnerable groups”, according to MYEFO paperwork, as well as for some New Zealand citizens with children in their care.
