Liberal Senator Breaks Ranks, Rejects ‘Negative’ Migration Rhetoric

Opposition Leader Angus Taylor has hardened the party’s immigration policy amid a surge of support to One Nation.

Leader of the Opposition Angus Taylor takes questions during a television interview at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia on May 13, 2026. Hilary Wardhaugh/Getty Images

South Australian Liberal Senator Andrew McLachlan has broken ranks with Opposition Leader Angus Taylor over the Coalition’s new migration policy.

“I have deep concerns, coming from a multicultural community, that we are going to create two types of members in the community going forward with this policy suite,” he said on ABC Radio National Breakfast on May 19.

“If you’re both contributing to the wealth of the nation and one is entitled to certain entitlements, you could have almost a form of a ’strata-ing' of our society. And I’m not sure that’s the Australian way.”

This comes after Taylor said in his official budget reply that he would stop non-citizens from receiving welfare.

But McLachlan, a party moderate said he did not think the country should take a “negative approach.”

“I don’t think our rhetoric meets the needs of the broader community. I think our rhetoric used alienates migrant communities,” McLachlan said.

He accepted controls were needed on migration but rejected blaming them for problems in Australia.

“Certainly it should be controlled and we don’t want to invite people here without giving them a society that can accommodate them. Both economically and culturally. But we cannot continue to blame migrants for the problems of our economy,” he said.

Under the Coalition plan, the net overseas migration rate would be tied to the volume of housing completions each year.

“Never again will a government be able to bring in more people than our housing can support,” Taylor said.

Non-citizens would be barred from accessing 17 government programs including JobSeeker, paid parental leave, the Family Tax Benefit, and the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) until they become citizens.

Existing recipients will not be affected.

Shadow Immigration Minister Defends Coalition Policy

Shadow Immigration Minister Jonno Duniam stood by the policy.

“This is not about punishment, but it is about trying to incentivise that pathway to Australian citizenship,” he told ABC.

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

The Liberal Party has hardened its position on migration amid a surge of support for the conservative-leaning One Nation party, which recently won the Farrer by-election, taking a seat held by the Coalition since 1949.

Labor Housing Minister Urges Permanent Residents to Become Citizens

Meanwhile, Labor Housing Minister Clare O’Neil seized on Taylor’s policy.

“You raise your family here, you pay taxes here, you build a life here. And now Angus Taylor wants to kick you off social supports,” she said on Facebook.

O’Neil said Taylor’s policy means no pension, no aged care and no NDIS.

“If they win the election, that’s what the Coalition are planning to do,” she said.