国家党前排议员布里吉特·麦肯齐在与“一个国家党”参议员尴尬的电视交锋中，未能确认联盟党备受争议的移民计划是否已正式完成成本估算。本周，联盟党公布了其削减4年内65万份临时签证的方案，安格斯·泰勒坚称该计划“对预算无影响”。他声称，该计划聚焦高技能工人，将弥补任何税收收入的损失，因为这些工人的收入高于非技能工人。
Nationals frontbencher Bridget McKenzie has failed to confirm if the Coalition’s controversial migration plan has been officially costed in an awkward on-air encounter with a One Nation senator. The Coalition released its pitch to slash 650,000 temporary visas over four years this week, with Angus Taylor insisting it is “budget neutral”. He claimed the plan’s focus on highly skilled workers would plug any loss in tax revenue because they earnt more than non-skilled workers.
然而，该计划是否已由议会预算办公室（PBO）进行成本估算仍不清楚。反对党领袖及其副手简·休姆均表示，他们与这一独立监督机构“密切合作”。周五在News24的采访中，当被问及成本估算的模糊性时，麦肯齐参议员再次声称联盟党“可以自信地表示”其政策对预算无影响。但当另一位受访者、“一个国家党”参议员肖恩·贝尔直接询问时，她无法确认PBO是否已对此进行认证。
However, whether it has been costed by the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) has remained unclear, with both the Opposition Leader and his deputy Jane Hume saying they have “worked closely” with the independent watchdog. Asked about the costings murkiness during a News24 interview on Friday, Senator McKenzie again claimed the Coalition “can confidently say” its policy is budget neutral. But she could not confirm the PBO had certified it when asked point blank by fellow interviewee, One Nation senator Sean Bell. “Bridget, are you saying that’s been fully costed by the Parliamentary Budget Office, or is that internal costings?” he asked.
“布里吉特，你是说该计划已完全由议会预算办公室完成成本估算，还是这只是内部估算？”他问道。麦肯齐参议员回应称，她“很想知道”“一个国家党”的政策内容，随后又说主持人“有权在这次采访中提问”。但主持人让贝尔参议员继续追问，他表示想了解麦肯齐参议员所声称的预算中立性是基于何种标准。“我只是想澄清一下，因为你问我们是否会效仿联盟党——我只是想弄明白，当布里吉特说该计划已完全完成成本估算时，这些是内部估算，还是已经由议会预算办公室宣布对预算无影响？”贝尔参议员问道。
Senator McKenzie replied that she would “love to know” One Nation’s policy before saying the host “gets to ask the questions in this interview”. But the host let Senator Bell push on, and he said he wanted to know by what standard Senator McKenzie claimed budget neutrality. “I just want to clarify because you’re asking if we’re going to follow suit with the Coalition – I’m just trying to understand when Bridget says it’s fully costed, are these internal costings or has it been declared budget neutral by the Parliamentary Budget Office?”Senator Bell asked.
麦肯齐参议员无法确认，她表示：“我们已经非常、非常明确地说过，我们与议会预算办公室一直保持着极其密切的合作。”随后，她继续重申削减签证类别的具体内容，直到采访时间结束。
Senator McKenzie could not confirm, saying that “we’ve made very, very clear we’ve been working extremely closely with the Parliamentary Budget Office”. She then went on to recap the visa class cuts until time ran out on the interview.
联盟党的移民计划提议，将澳大利亚的净移民人数在两年内削减至10万人，第三年增至13万人，随后在第三年稳定在16万人。这将比工党的提议初步减少12.5万人。企业界警告称，阿尔巴尼斯政府、联盟党以及“一个国家”党提出的三项移民计划都可能对经济造成损害。
The Coalition’s migration plan proposes cutting Australia’s net intake to 100,000 for two years, lifting it to 130,000 in the third year, and then levelling it out at 160,000 in the third year. That would mark an initial 125,000 drop from Labor’s proposal. Businesses have warned all three migration proposals from the Albanese government, the Coalition and One Nation could hurt the economy.