Coalition fails to confirm migration plan officially costed
Summarised from 2 outlets · Updated 8 Oct, 23:55 · Archive
The Coalition has not confirmed whether its migration plan to slash 650,000 temporary visas has been officially costed by the Parliamentary Budget Office.
The Coalition released its migration plan this week, proposing to slash 650,000 temporary visas over four years. Angus Taylor claimed the policy is 'budget neutral', arguing that its focus on highly skilled workers would plug any loss in tax revenue because they earn more than non-skilled workers.
During a News24 interview on Friday, Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie was asked whether the plan had been officially costed by the Parliamentary Budget Office. She said the Coalition 'can confidently say' its policy is budget neutral but could not confirm the PBO had certified it when pressed directly by One Nation senator Sean Bell.
When asked point blank 'are you saying that's been fully costed by the Parliamentary Budget Office, or is that internal costings?', McKenzie did not answer the question directly. Instead she said she would 'love to know' One Nation's policy and deflected to the interviewer. Senator Bell persisted, asking whether the budget neutrality claim was based on internal or official costings. McKenzie replied only that 'we've made very, very clear we've been working extremely closely with the Parliamentary Budget Office'.
How it is being reported
- Senior Nationals senator fails to say if Coalition’s migration plan officially costedA Nationals frontbencher has been stumped by a question pitched by a One Nation senator on the Coalition’s migration plan.The West Australian · 8 Oct, 23:23
- Senior Nationals senator fails to say if Coalition’s migration plan officially costedA Nationals frontbencher has been stumped by a question pitched by a One Nation senator on the Coalition’s migration plan.Perth Now · 8 Oct, 23:23
In this story: Bridget McKenzie · Angus Taylor · Sean Bell · Jane Hume · Coalition · One Nation · Parliamentary Budget Office
This summary was written by AI from the headlines and standfirsts above, and states as fact only what at least two outlets report. How we use AI · Report a problem
Comments (0)