Austrian Interior minister Wolfgang Sobotka | Hanz Punz/AFP via Getty Images Austria plans to stop giving food and shelter to rejected asylum seekers Government bill is aimed at encouraging asylum seekers to leave voluntarily.

Austrian authorities would not have to provide food and accommodation to migrants who are denied asylum and refuse to leave the country, under a draft law approved by the government Tuesday.

"The first thing is basically that they don't get anything from the Austrian state if they don't have the right to stay here. Is that so hard to understand?" Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka said, according to Reuters.

Sobotka said the law, which will need approval by parliament, was designed to encourage rejected asylum seekers to leave voluntarily.

According to the minister, some 4,000 people receive basic services but should have left the country. Of those, around half could be affected if the law is passed because they are deemed healthy enough to travel to their home countries.

Most rejected asylum seekers in Austria in 2016 were from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria. Asylum applicants who lie about their identities face a €5,000 fine or three weeks in jail.