better or worse is an emotive term, but you cannot argue that citizens and noncitizens are different.
A non-citizen is the citizen of another country with all the rights and responsibilities that go with that fact. A citizen of Australia enjoys certain rights and owes certain responsibilities to Australia, and no other country.
One of the rights of an Australian citizen is to remain in Australia, another is to come and go from Australia as they wish. Responsibilities of Australian citizens include defending the country against invasion and obeying Australian laws wherever in the world they may be.
Non-citizens do not have these responsibilities or these rights.
The migrant who lives here permanently but does not become a citizen has failed the most basic loyalty test there is: rejecting the offer to become Australian.
Just because someone travels here and stays here does not mean they give a toss about Australia. The pay may be better here, the beaches may be better, the political freedom may be better. But when push comes to shove many refer to their birth country as "back home" and will return there without looking back if the attractiveness of living in Australia wanes.
-- DM personal opinion only
