Nearly half of immigrants on welfare

Billions of dollars in welfare payments are claimed by nearly 900,000 immigrants annually.

Costing taxpayers a whopping $15 billion each year, around 870,000 non-citizens from mainly Britain, New Zealand, Africa and the Middle East receive benefits according to a Parliamentary Budget Office analysis.

Requested by Liberal Democratic Party senator David Leyonhjelm, the analysis showed immigrants were claiming on average, approximately $16,500 in annual benefits per person.

The Australian reported more than 700,000 non-citizens were from countries which Australia had no social security agreement (Britain, China) and claimed around $17,500 annually.

The remainder were from nations which Australia does have an agreement (NZ, India) and claimed $15,500 per person each year.

Senator Leyonhjelm said welfare payments should be reserved for Australian citizens.

“At present, around 2.5 million (non-citizens) live in Australia and are eligible for welfare,” he said.

“While I believe refugees should continue to be elig­ible for welfare to help them find their feet, the vast majority of non-citizens are not refugees and should not require handouts.”

According to Senator Leyonhjelm, cutting welfare payments to non-citizens would discourage those with poor job prospects from coming to Australia, and would build support for immigration within the Australian community.

However, he failed to specify how that support would manifest.

Pensions, allowances and family tax benefits are based on residence, not citizenship and a minimum of 10 years’ residents is required to qualify for the Age Pension (Australia’s biggest welfare payment).

Unsurprisingly, British citizens made up the largest share of the total (170,000) followed by Africa, the Middle East and China.

The government recently made qualification for skilled temporary visas and citizenship much stricter by paring back eligible job categories and tightening English-language and residency requirements.

However, social security and welfare is still the largest area of government spending with a projected growth to $191B by 2020 from $158.6B this financial year.

Do you agree welfare payments should only be for Australian citizens?