Politicians Torn Up About Taylor’s Trumpian Immigration Plan

Releasing the first elements of a new hardline immigration policy on Tuesday, Opposition leader Angus Taylor has sparked criticism from refugee advocates, Labour and even Liberal MPs, who all likened the plans to policies from the US president, Donald Trump.

Former Howard government minister Amanda Vanstone has warned Taylor against turning immigration into heavy-handed law enforcement, saying most migrants from countries run by dictators and extremists move to Australia to escape authoritarianism. Labor has also warned Taylor’s plans to favour immigration from liberal democracies would fundamentally change the character of the nation, challenging the Coalition to explain where existing deportation powers are insufficient.

Vanstone, who served as immigration minister from 2003 to 2006, told Guardian Australia using immigration systems for law enforcement risked the country’s status as a successful multicultural nation, but she backed Taylor’s plans to require permanent migrants to learn English.

Home affairs minister Tony Burke lashed Taylor’s new hardline policy, which was unveiled on Tuesday, accusing the Coalition of chasing voters who were moving to Pauline Hanson’s One Nation, and describing that Taylor has decided to debase himself with petty attacks on the most vulnerable. The co-chief executive of the Refugee Council of Australia Paul Power also remarks that the irony of Taylor questioning whether migrants adhere to Australian values is that, in doing so, he is demonstrating a set of values which falls well short of the concept of giving everyone a fair go.