The Coalition has unveiled a hardline immigration policy that makes the Australian Values Statement legally binding for all visa holders and aims to force 65,000 people to leave Australia, according to Opposition Leader Angus Taylor. The policy includes requiring permanent visa holders to learn English, introducing social media vetting for visa applicants, and increasing funding for law enforcement to track down, arrest, and deport non-citizens who have exhausted legal appeals. Additional measures involve banning permanent residents from accessing the five percent deposit home loan scheme, reintroducing Temporary Protection Visas as the main option for people arriving illegally or under false pretences, creating a Safe Country List to fast-track rejection of unfounded asylum claims, and ending taxpayer-funded legal aid for non-citizens appealing visa cancellations.
Labor has accused Taylor of desperate dog-whistling, with Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke saying his speech was a diatribe and that Taylor is trying to win back voters abandoning the Coalition for Pauline Hanson's One Nation. Pauline Hanson said One Nation's surge in the polls pushed the Coalition into adopting a hardline immigration policy. Cricket great Usman Khawaja called the policy appalling and accused it of discriminating against Muslims, while former immigration minister Amanda Vanstone warned against turning immigration into heavy-handed law enforcement.
Millions of Australians will be asking why do the Liberals have a problem with their parents, who don't speak great English but are great Australians.
Taylor criticized Labor's migration record, claiming Labor has brought in a record 1.4 million people in just three-and-a-half years. He added that migration under Labor has added extreme pressure to housing, infrastructure, and essential services. Taylor said the five percent deposit scheme has been distorted to make numbers look better.
They can see the rise in polls from One Nation, and that's what they've jumped on board, because they've got to try and get the voters back.