'See what happens': PM takes aim at Coalition over 'divisive' permanent resident debate

Both One Nation and the Coalition have proposed policies affecting permanent residents, including on housing and social services.

Albanese criticised suggestions that permanent residents should face restrictions on housing or government services, as suggested by One Nation and the Opposition. Source: AAP / Darren England

In brief

• Anthony Albanese referred to comments from Barnaby Joyce this week about One Nation's housing policy for permanent residents.
• The prime minister said Liberals and Nationals are going down the same path, pointing to the budget reply.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has challenged the Opposition and One Nation's policies affecting permanent residents, arguing the group is a vital part of the Australian workforce as he criticised the Coalition's rhetoric as increasingly indistinguishable from that of its right-wing rival.

Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Albanese criticised suggestions that permanent residents should face restrictions on housing or government services, saying many had lived in Australia for decades and play essential roles in Australian society.

"Now we have a different coalition of people, the Liberal One Nationals, where it is increasingly difficult to see a difference between what the Liberal or National parties are saying and what the One Nation party is saying," Albanese said from the Sunshine Coast on Sunday.

He referenced a fumble this week by One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce, who suggested permanent residents would have to become Australian citizens or be forced to sell their homes under his party's housing policy.

He later retracted that statement and sought to clarify the party's policy, saying One Nation wanted permanent residents to progress to Australian citizenship, but would not require them to sell their homes.

Albanese suggested the Coalition's approach is similar, pointing to Opposition leader Angus Taylor's budget reply speech, which he described as "extraordinary and divisive".

In his speech last month, Taylor said the Opposition would look to claw back billions of dollars by cutting access to welfare programs for non-citizens, including permanent residents, while grandfathering existing recipients. He said permanent residents should be encouraged to become citizens.

For many permanent residents from countries that do not permit dual nationality, such as China and India, this would require them to renounce the citizenship of their country of birth.

"One thing that you won't hear from me is drawing a distinction between Australians and migrants who are permanent residents," Albanese said.

"Permanent residents are people who've made a commitment to Australia to be permanent residents. Go into a hospital here, see what happens if all the permanent residents go. See if you have a nurse, an orderly, someone who's cleaning, someone who's looking after those health facilities.

"Go into an aged care facility and see how our older Australians would get the services they need if somehow we throw out all the permanent residents — don't allow them to have a house, don't allow them to have any access to services.

"This is the divisive route that the Liberal One Nationals want us to go down."

Speaking on Sky News on Sunday morning, Opposition treasury spokesperson Tim Wilson said Joyce's remarks were "shocking".

"If One Nation's agenda is simply to evict people from their homes and expel them out of the country, who are engaging in law-abiding activity and lawful property owners, it says something really distressing about their objectives in government," he said.

When asked if the Coalition was also targeting permanent residents with its welfare proposals, Wilson said, "we won't be forcing them to sell their homes".

"Our focus is on how we make sure that people come to Australia, they commit to Australia, and they contribute to Australia, and I don't believe it's in the best interests of Australians, or for new Australians, or migrants, to actively want to seek out welfare," he said.

SBS News has contacted a Coalition spokesperson for comment on Albanese's remarks.

'You should become an Australian citizen'

Last month, Taylor said the Coalition policy would reserve the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) and 17 different welfare programs, "for Australians only", cutting off Jobseeker, Youth Allowance, pensions and the Family Tax Benefit for non-citizens. Existing recipients would be exempt.

Temporary visa holders do not have access to the NDIS, so permanent residents, who are taxpayers, would be the main group impacted by the change.

Currently, permanent residents must wait four years to access most social benefits, and up to 10 years for aged and disability pensions.

Taylor's budget reply also included cuts to overseas migration.

The policy drew rebukes from some migrants, who expressed concerns and frustrations that they might be forced to choose between access to welfare payments and citizenship rights to their country of birth under the policy.

"I have voted Liberal my whole life. This policy has ended that. And I am not alone," small business owner Raj Khanna told SBS News last month. "Excluding non-citizens out of these basic welfare payments is just inhumane."

Liberal immigration spokesperson Jonathon Duniam told SBS News at the time existing recipients would continue to receive support, but the intention was to send "a clear message to future migrants: Australia has a generous safety net but, if you want the benefits of Australian citizenship, you should become an Australian citizen."

Questions over One Nation's housing policy

Under One Nation's policy, foreign owners of homes in Australia would be required to sell within two years or risk having their properties repossessed by the government. Permanent residents would not be required to sell their homes.

Leader Pauline Hanson clarified the policy after Joyce and a colleague, One Nation Senator Sean Bell, were unable to articulate the specifics when asked about the policy this week.

During an interview with 2GB, Bell was asked if foreign owners would have their property seized if they failed to sell within two years.

"That is an excellent question, but what we’re saying, and it is perfectly reasonable to expect that homes in Australia go to Australian citizens," Bell responded.

Deputy Opposition Leader Jane Hume accused the party of not knowing how its own housing plan would work.

"I'm not entirely sure even One Nation knows their policy here, but if their policy is to kick people out of their homes, I think that that should set off alarm bells for millions of Australians, because that is a very new development," she said on Sky News.

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