Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Vice-President of the Executive Council) Share this | Hansard source

In Australia, when it comes to income support and related arrangements it has always been based on a residency requirement. That is not a new principle at all. We of course understand that it is a difficult circumstance, but the Australian government has a responsibility to prioritise Australians in the first instance. Indeed, we have extended supports to permanent residents and waived the waiting period for permanent residents that hadn't yet served the entire waiting period to be able to access relevant income support payments.

Just to put that into context: we are here about to spend $130 billion in relation to six million working Australians—nearly half the Australian workforce. Probably another two million Australians will receive jobseeker payments. That is well over half the Australian workforce that will be receiving payments from the government. While I hear that some are saying that we should do more and more and more, the truth is that in this circumstance, in the context of the capacity of what we're able to do, in the first instance we do have to prioritise the interests of Australians.