Chinese-Australians' distrust of the coalition will only increase after the conservatives unveiled plans to strip welfare payments from non-citizens, community advocates and experts warn.
While delivering his first budget reply speech on Thursday evening, Opposition Leader Angus Taylor promised to put 17 programs on a citizens-only list should the coalition win the next election.
Mr Taylor said that the plan, which would include excluding non-citizens from JobSeeker and the National Disability Insurance Scheme, would claw back billions in savings.
The Australia-China Relations Institute's Wanning Sun believes the policy won't help the coalition win back already disillusioned Chinese-Australian voters, after they played a role in helping Labor secure a landslide election victory a year ago.
"Since the new leadership under Taylor, they have done quite a few things that go just the other direction, and this is probably just another one," she told AAP.
"(It has created an) us versus them ... It's a very simplistic way of applying the concept of citizenship."
Jimmy Li from the Chinese Community Council of Australia echoed Ms Sun's sentiment, saying that the crackdown has the potential to create unnecessary division and undermine social cohesion.
"That's kind of unfair because permanent residents are part of Australian society in every meaningful way," Mr Li said.
"They work, they raise their families here, they pay the same taxes. They contribute to the economy and communities just like any other citizens."
The dramatic policy position comes after now-deputy opposition leader Jane Hume suggested during the 2025 election campaign that volunteers handing out Labor leaflets were "Chinese spies", angering parts of the 1.4 million Chinese-Australian community.
But City of Melbourne councillor and former Liberal MP Gladys Liu said she could understand both sides to the argument, saying that it will encourage loyalty to Australia and that taxpayers' money should be used for citizens.
Nevertheless, she called the move "risky", urging Mr Taylor to highlight that the policy will be grandfathered for those already on it.
"The problem I see here is that the Liberal Party, at the moment, hasn't got a clear voice in the Chinese community. There is no entrusted spokesperson to voice their policy and to answer questions and queries," Ms Liu said.
"I feel that sitting members need to come to the communities, talk to the people, listen to the people, hear their concerns, explain where they come from, and how that will benefit the community."
