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Restricting welfare to citizens not ‘punishing’ but ‘incentivising’, shadow minister says

The shadow immigration minister, Jonno Duniam, has said Angus Taylor’s budget reply proposal to limit welfare payments only to Australian citizens was not a punishment for permanent residents but to “incentivise that pathway to Australian citizenship”

But they’ll still have to wait under the visa system a number of years, in almost all cases, to receive the kinds of welfare benefits that you are talking about.

And, in many cases now, under Labor’s current approach, there are wait times between 4 and 10 years for various supports that people may want to take advantage of.

We want to ensure that we have houses for them to live in.

And can I say – we want to preserve for those who eventually become Australian citizens, which I hope is all of them that want to come here, the services that we provide in this country.