Topics: Budget reply

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SALLY SARA: Dave Sharma is the Shadow Assistant Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs and Shadow Assistant Minister for International Development and the Indo-Pacific. Dave Sharma, welcome back to Breakfast.

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DAVE SHARMA: Good to join you.

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SALLY SARA: Dave Sharma, the government has accused Opposition Leader Angus Taylor of using, quote, a typical One Nation playbook to try to divide Australians. How different are the Coalition and One Nation immigration policies? Policies?

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DAVE SHARMA: Well, look, they're quite different. I wouldn't pretend to be a student of One Nation's policy, Sally, but the policies we've put forward are what we believe are in the nation's interest, and that is to make sure that when we bring people to Australia, there's enough housing to accommodate them, and in a way that does not put pressure on the existing housing stock for people who are already here, and to make sure that our immigration program is working in Australia's national interests.

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SALLY SARA: Which categories are likely to be targeted for reductions in immigration? What's the Coalition's thinking?

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DAVE SHARMA: Look, we will be revealing details closer to the time, and I'm not responsible for this part of policy development myself, but I would say that we've, we've made quite clear that we want it capped to the number of housing completions in the previous year, which would see a significant reduction on the amount. Now, we recognise that there's still an important role for skilled migration, and we recognise that some skills, particularly in the construction sector, are in short supply and they're not well represented in our skilled migration stream at the moment.

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SALLY SARA: So, so has that maths been done at the moment and not announced, or you're yet to— the Coalition's yet to figure out which categories it will target for cuts?

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DAVE SHARMA: That work is underway, but obviously, look, we're not in a— we're not— we're 2 years away from an election. These are the sorts of details that we will reveal closest to the election, which will depend partly on what's happening in the housing market at the time and what are the skills are the sort of shortages or skills needs for the Australian economy at the time. Those are the sorts of parameters we'll need to take into account when we reveal the more detail of this policy.

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SALLY SARA: So that will be closer to the election. So the Coalition has announced this policy but hasn't crunched the numbers as yet. Would that be fair?

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DAVE SHARMA: No, I don't think that's fair at all, Sally. But I think what we've said is, I mean, this is a budget reply speech where you don't— you expect important principles to be announced and important headline policy elements that further policy.

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SALLY SARA: You've also got to know those principles work, are workable.

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DAVE SHARMA: Well, yes, they are workable. I mean, I would just point out that for many years in Australia, the net overseas migration figure was closer to 200,000 per year. And that's the sort of ballpark figures that we're talking about here right now, that that works in Australia for a number of years. It was achievable, it was feasible. There's no reason that similar programs or similar size migration programs will not work in the future. But as I said, we will reveal the details of that close to the time.

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SALLY SARA: Why should permanent residents who pay tax be excluded from welfare programs?

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DAVE SHARMA: Look, I would say two things. Firstly, we want permanent residents who are eligible, and many are, to become citizens because we think there is a distinction, an important distinction of commitment and principle between citizens and non-citizens. And secondly, and bluntly, we need to find a way to control government spending on welfare. I mean, government spending on programs like the NDIS but also other programs has been growing far too quickly, and we think restricting access to some programs on the basis of citizenship or citizenship status is an appropriate way to help control that government spending.

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SALLY SARA: Even those permanent residents who are demonstrating a commitment to Australia and want to become citizens, that process can take some time, sometimes over several years. What's the Coalition's view on how those people should meet their needs during that time? For example, if there are emergencies that they have to deal with within their family?

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DAVE SHARMA: Well, look, firstly, this policy will be prospective. That is, people who are already here as non-citizens and who are accessing certain government programs will be continuing to be able to access those programs. The policy would only take effect from the 1st of July 2028. So people— no one who is currently—so the people who arrive after July 2028 who will not be citizens, firstly, they will be made well aware of what they're able to access and what they're not to able access. Secondly, they will continue to be eligible for programs like Medicare public schools, public hospitals. And then the final thing I'd say is many of these people now have to wait a number of years before they can access government welfare payments, even though they're not citizens. All we're saying now is, well, that is going to change. You won't be able to access, for instance, Farm Household Allowance after 4 years of being a resident. You will need to wait to become a citizen. I think we're being upfront about that with prospective new citizens and arrivals, and it will encourage people to take out citizenship sooner. I mean, in Australia, we have about 16% to 17% of our population of non-citizens. That is significantly higher than countries like Canada or the United Kingdom. We want more Australians who are living here to become citizens. I think that's good for our nation and ultimately good for our economy.

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SALLY SARA: On Radio National Breakfast, I'm speaking with Dave Sharma, Shadow Assistant Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs. On taxation, Angus Taylor has also announced a plan to index tax brackets. Is it your understanding that this would be delivered in people's pay packets like a regular tax cut, or would it be delivered at tax time as an offset?

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DAVE SHARMA: Look, my understanding is that we would firstly index the lower two of the income tax thresholds, if you like, or brackets, and then in subsequent years, in later years, about 2 to 3 years later, we will index the higher income tax brackets. That will mean that the tax at which you're being assessed and your PAYG tax, as I understand it, will change to reflect that because your employer will be assessing your taxation level on the basis of the thresholds that will have been indexed so they'll be told that they will be changing to this in the subsequent year to reflect inflation in the previous year. And so that will be seen in your pay packet week to week.

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SALLY SARA: Dave Sharma, thank you very much for joining me this morning.

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[ENDS]