Opposition Leader Angus Taylor has unveiled a plan to boot migrants from the nation if they do not exhibit "Australian values", shut the door on some asylum seekers and screen the social media profiles of visa applicants.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers called the plan a "strange and pretty disappointing" contribution.
"What he's doing is plagiarising the politics and the rhetoric of other countries and another time," he told ABC Radio on Wednesday.
"What he's doing is playing more to the internal politics of the three right-wing parties than he is concerned with the national interest."
Mr Taylor's announcement was seen as an attempt to claw back ground from Pauline Hanson's populist One Nation, which has hoovered up disillusioned Liberal and Nationals voters in the aftermath of the coalition's worst federal election defeat.
The plan has been widely panned by human rights groups, Labor and communities the coalition once attempted to court.
Under the coalition's plan, complying with the Australian values statement will be enshrined into law and a prescribed set of behaviours that constitute a breach of Australian values will be established.
"What we're intending to do is, if you do breach one of the elements as can be established in law, then your visa would be cancelled and you would be asked to leave the country," opposition home affairs spokesman Jonathon Duniam told ABC Radio.
"I'd argue hate preaching is one of those things that would constitute an offence."
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 emboldened Nazis and white supremacists, and paved 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 had condemned Mr Taylor's speech as "desperate dog-whistling", the party also played a part in scapegoating immigrants, the commissioner said.
The federal government in March barred thousands of Iranian visa holders from entering the nation 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.
United Indian Associations president John Kennedy backed the proposal for a stricter screening process, but urged the coalition to have compassion and not single out particular communities.
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