A new legal plan to raise the threshold for new immigrants to pension or disability benefits to at least 15 years in Australia has been sent to the federal parliament.
Tan Bao's government is trying to reduce pension costs, arguing that if a person lives abroad for more than six weeks, his pension benefits will be suspended. This will save the government nearly 900 million dollars.
Christian Porter, the minister of social services, said it was reasonable for the government to expect a person to contribute to Australia's economy and society before receiving pension benefits after emigrating to Australia.
Under existing laws, new immigrants have to live in Australia for more than 10 years (five of which must be consecutive) before applying for pension benefits.
Now, however, the government wants to increase the waiting time to 10 consecutive years in Australia, five of which must be at work.
If these requirements are not met, new immigrants will have to live for 15 consecutive years before applying for a pension.
"this means that the majority of people who can apply for a pension must have contributed to the Australian economy, whether they are paid labor or have been paying taxes on a continuous basis," Porter said.
It is reported that the proposal will affect 2400 people, but will save about A $119 million in fiscal expenditure in the long run.
If the bill passes, those who are currently applying for a pension will not be affected, with only 2 percent of those who apply for it after July 2018 likely to be affected.
In addition, the draft includes other legislative proposals on changes in benefits, such as restricting student relocation scholarships, which cannot be awarded to students who are studying in Australia and whose parents settle down or live in Australia for a long time.
This means that students who want to study abroad or return from studying abroad will no longer be entitled to the scholarship.
The proposed changes in respect of benefits also include:
Netizens comment:
"Oh, my God, why would a new immigrant who had just come off the ship be allowed to receive all kinds of generous benefits?" These benefits are supposed to give the rights of citizens who have worked hard all their lives. This is crazy. "
"what about those from the Middle East? Almost 80% to 90% of people of working age do not work more than five years after arriving in Australia, but they also apply for various benefits. Stop this, too. "
"it's better to stop the mass migration before it's too late."
"to put it straight, you legally emigrate to Australia and then wait four years before you can apply for citizenship and obtain an Australian passport. But you came to Australia in an illegal way, asked the country to take you in, and then a year later you got it international. What is going on in this country? "
"do you have to make a contribution to the country before you can apply for a pension? Now this is a radical proposal for this country, but shouldn't it have been a common sense? "
"I'm sorry, but I think immigrants have to wait a while before applying for Medicare and family tax breaks. Why do we support wives who have arranged marriages, and when they come here, we taxpayers have to give them money as soon as they get pregnant? "
"at last there was the right decision. Now, implement it! "
"I don't think it makes sense for a person to stay overseas for more than six weeks and break his pension, and don't forget that there are all Australians, including those who are not immigrants. I think it's more reasonable for six months. "
