Angus Taylor’s claim support is a ‘privilege of citizenship’ leaves Deepa and others with an impossible choice | Australian immigration and asylum
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/may/24/angus-taylor-welfare-citizenship-migrants-immigrants-giving-up-home-ntwnfb
33 Comments
She got pregnant within 3 years of coming to Australia and spent her time researching what payments she could get from Australia… and also doesn’t want to give up her Indian citizenship either because she’ll lose their benefits
Yeah, I don’t think that example from the guardian is going to garner the sympathy they think it is
Australians didn’t choose Anus Taylor to be the head of his party, put him in the bin.
That’s one bullshit article.
>From the article (my emphasis):
That means migrants wanting to become an Australian citizen also have to give up their homeland citizenship. That could make it harder to visit friends and family, and could rob the new citizen of property, investments and pensions in their homeland. **In many countries non-citizens can’t own property or assets and won’t get pensions.**
Angus Taylor wants to treat non-citizens the same way other countries treat their non-citizens?
I think we need longer PR residency or some other criteria before we hand out citizenship.
So there needs to be some form of balance .
Min waiting period and getting a benefit dependent on if you have paid tax? If you contribute , you should be eligible for benefits .
***migrants wanting to become an citizen also have to give up their homeland citizenship. … and could rob the new citizen of property, investments and pensions in their homeland.***
Commitment. Someone is going to have a make a decision on where they want to live and what situation benefits them the best .I want benefits in Australia but also the benefit of being a citizen of another country.
Like it matters Angus Taylor will never be PM, The LNP is cooked
Absolute own goal of an article. She’s a piece of work as well, not uncommon if you’ve met economic migrants like her.
There’s no impossible choice.
Taylor has no chance of winning any election. Zero.
Australia provides an incredible level of services to people here – regardless of whether or not they are citizens.
Access to clean water, reliable electricity, relatively stable governance, good healthcare, clean public areas etc (I’ve worked overseas most of my adult life, and there are plenty of countries that are far, far worse).
This is basic infrastructure that we can sometimes take for granted – but a number of countries (even some developed nations) don’t all provide.
This is paid for by taxes from citizens and non-citizens alike. And is enjoyed by everyone regardless of your employment status.
There are some benefits that were instituted and budgeted FOR Australian citizens. Eg benefits that were meant to encourage population growth because our domestic birth rate remains dangerously low. Doesn’t make sense to encourage birth rates for non-citizens / expats if a proportion of them are going to return to their country of origin.
Permanent residents can apply for citizenship (once they fulfil the requisite requirements) if they choose to.
But they can’t (like this lady is complaining about) try and double dip on benefits from their country of citizenship and their host country if they choose not to become Australian citizens.
How much do water licences go for again
A simple google search says property can be inherited even after giving up Indian citizenship.
I also like the wording ‘could’ make it difficult to meet friends & family. I’d like to know how this ‘could’ happen.
Sloppily written article, without verifying any claims.
My wife’s country doesn’t allow dual citizenship and the same as I wouldn’t give up Australian citizenship, nor would I expect my wife to give up hers.
If Angus said PRs pay less tax for less services then I would grudgingly accept this, but in my book PR are Australians entitled to the same rights and responsibilities except voting.
If I get extremely sick (Australian citizen) and we blow our assets on treatment is it really a great idea to deny my wife a carers pension of about $800 a fortnight so you can pay NDIS or aged care providers more than $2000 to take care of me?
It’s also quite stupid when we have reciprocal social security arrangements with other countries. Their governments contribute funding for agreed pensions while their citizens live here, yet we are looking at denying the safety net to people who live, work, and pay taxes right here in Australia.
The LNP is trying to beat One Nation by becoming One Nation, it won’t work out well for them.
I hate to say it, but I agree with Angus that most benefits should require citizenship. It’s already the case, but I think it should remain that way.
I know he was dog-whistling of course, and that he is incorrect that people get welfare as soon as they arrive.
I do not like people who have some sense of entitlement that they deserve any form of welfare if they are not citizens.
I don’t feel sympathy for the woman in the article. She doesn’t want to take out citizenship, but wants the benefits of citizenship. She should commit to Australia and become a citizen if she wants the benefits of being a citizen. Yes, I know that means giving up her Indian citizenship, but that’s tough. She either commits to Australia, or doesn’t get the benefits of being Australian.
I don’t know why we treat the country as an economic zone? It appears she wants welfare benefits with no intention of becoming a citizen?
I’d have much more sympathy if she said how much she loves the country and wants to become a citizen and Australian. The question is why does she remain here, if she has the viable option of returning to India?
‘Impossible’
Lmao.
She said she’s got property, land and parents in inside. So, she’s assumably in Australia for work or study reasons. Or something else? Perhaps she shouldn’t be on benefits. Just pay your way. Doesn’t sound like she wants to be a citizen. She’s a citizen of India already. I kinda don’t care.
The racism!
I just don’t want to step over the corpses of starved Indians on my way to work. Maybe limit who gets in, but once there are here there is a minimum standard of living I want to see in Australia because everyone is better off when everyone is better off.
Angus Taylor doesn’t represent Australia and we should damn well ensure it is kept that way.
Why is it our responsibility to provide support to people from a country who’s population is over a billion? This is insanity
>To become an Australian citizen, most people must have been a permanent resident for four years.
Basic fact checking fail by the Guardian.
It’s resident for 4 years, at least one of which is as a Permanent Resident.
I think the entire problem being discussed here is countries that do not allow duel citizenship. Seems old fashioned, and not something Australia can do anything about.
This was not a very convincing article, because it doesn’t talk about anything crucial that these people are missing out on by remaining a permanent resident rather than a citizen. PR’s can get medicare and centrelink, it is just a wait, just like citizenship is also a wait. Though 4 years compared to 10years for disability payments is an important one. But the wait for maternity is about the same as the wait for citizenship, so seems a pointless thing to talk about.
The fact that the Dutch woman cannot access some online ATO stuff due to not having a passport is an annoyance, but obviously still workable and doesnt seem a worthy complaint when that small inconvenience means she can access 20% of the Dutch pension. And in any regard, it is a problem to take up with The Netherlands for not allowing duel citizenship, not Australia.
Just another blatant otherisation of a group of people so as to distract us from his and his parties constant failures.
I want benefits from overseas
Csnt I just stay here and get them?
Its quite a long list for countries that don’t permit dual citizenships particularly in our area (China, Japan, Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia, being the largest). We also currently have around 1.2m permanent residents who can’t vote in elections.
Australia only allowed dual citizenship in 2002, which isn’t that relevant, but it did cause problems for some Australians living abroad
Maybe Angus thinks that they don’t get a vote so they don’t matter, so a bit of racist dog whistling is clearly the order of the day.
Can’t have you cake and eat it. Either give up ur Indian citizenship or shut up
Oh man if we always judged an entire group of people by the worst in it, how would that go for Australians.
If all the permanent residents leave Australia would be in trouble
No where have I heard it mention what the inverse situation is in India or China or elsewhere. Do those nations provide welfare to non-citizen residents?
Exactly the kind of article that riles up Australians against immigration. Own goal by the guardian
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Migrants shouldn’t pay for any service that they can’t use.
Angus’s millionaire backers can pay the gap.