Opposition Leader Angus Taylor on Tuesday unveiled a plan to boot migrants from the country if they do not exhibit enough belief in "Australian values", shut the door on some asylum seekers and screen the social media of visa applicants.
It is seen as attempt to claw back ground from Pauline Hanson's conservative One Nation party, which has hoovered up swathes of disillusioned former Liberals and Nationals voters in the aftermath of the coalition's worst-ever election defeat.
But the plan has been widely panned by human rights groups, Labor and communities the coalition once attempted to court.
The opposition has previously tried to repair relations with the Chinese-Australian community, with Liberal senator Jane Hume issuing an apology after she said "Chinese spies" were volunteering for Labor in a clip that went viral on WeChat.
However, Mr Taylor's latest speech has only added to the diaspora's concerns.
"I feel like nothing has changed since the last election," Chinese Community Council of Australia's Victorian chapter committee member Eric Yan Ma told AAP.
The policy also emboldens Nazis and white supremacists, and paves the way for hate against diverse communities, Race Discrimination Commissioner Giridharan Sivaraman warned.
"Whenever migrants are singled out, dehumanised or blamed, it gives permission for racism towards those people," he told AAP.
"Often the only signal as to whether someone is a migrant is the colour of their skin or their accent or their name, so it taps into a deep undercurrent of racism that is still very much flowing in this country."
While Labor has condemned Mr Taylor's speech as "desperate dog-whistling", the party has played a part in scapegoating immigrants, the commissioner said.
The federal government in March barred thousands of Iranian visa holders from entering the country while their homeland is under attack from the US and Israel, months after passing laws that make it easier to deport immigration detainees.
Migrants also find it hard to feel seen by Labor, with Mr Ma noting SA Labor Premier Peter Malinauskas said "who's going to feed you and bathe you and wipe your bum when you're 90?" when asked how he could "win the day on immigration".
"It is disheartening to see that one side of politics portrays us as a liability and the other side only see the utility of us," Mr Ma said.
"How about just see us as humans?"
The coalition in September lost favour with Australia's Indian diaspora when Liberal senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price insinuated Labor was bringing in more Indian migrants to bolster its vote.
Though United Indian Associations president John Kennedy backed its proposal for a stricter screening process, he urged the coalition to have compassion and not single out particular communities.
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