Crackdown on asylum seeker ‘rort’ as government cuts welfare

The government claims 70 asylum seekers are rorting the system by adopting a medical scam to live rent-free in homes across Sydney.

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton confirmed to the Daily Telegraph up to 70 people will have their salaries and medical treatment cut off and their free housing abolished in the coming weeks for employing “tricky legal moves” to stay in the country.

It’s alleged the asylum seekers have sought legal injunctions to delay returning to offshore detention, refusing to return once their medical treatment is completed.

“In some cases, this con has been going on for years, costing the Australian taxpayer tens of thousands of dollars for each individual and seeing them receive more welfare, including housing, than pensioners who have worked here all their lives,” Mr Dutton said.

The newspaper reported some of those under the government’s guise for rorting were receiving almost three times more than an average Australian pensioner.

The group will be placed on Final Departure Bridging E Visas and will have to support themselves until they leave the country, including finding their own accommodation.

The government’s $200-a-fortnight welfare cut, announced over the weekend, for asylum seekers hunting for jobs and homes was slammed by refugee advocates.

"Now, completely out of the blue, with no notice whatsoever, they've been told tomorrow, you have no income we're taking all of your income away and in three weeks’ time we're taking your homes away," Human Rights Law Centre executive director Hugh de Kretser told reporters in Melbourne yesterday.

His centre and the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre believe the number of people affected by the Turnbull government’s crackdown on welfare could be as high as 400.

There are almost 400 asylum seekers in Australia on temporary visas on either medical or compassionate grounds.

Human Services Minister Alan Tudge said he did not think it was unreasonable to withdraw taxpayer support if they refused to return to Manus Island or Nauru.

Greens leader Richard Di Natale is taking advice on whether the move could be stopped in the Senate when parliament returns next week.

With AAP.