Dunedin refugee advocates have called for New Zealand’s refugee quota to be increased but warn enough support must be in place.
Support for refugees has hit the headlines across the world this week after United States President Donald Trump temporarily suspended the US refugee programme.
Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull said he was ‘‘kind of mystified’’ by the decision, and if US processes were similar to New Zealand’s, all incoming refugees were ‘‘extremely heavily vetted’’.
‘‘I’ve always been supportive of refugees coming here and will continue to be.’’
Dunedin Multi-Ethnic Council chairman Paul Gourlie said New Zealand had the resources, capacity and enthusiasm to take more refugees, but the country needed to make sure it had the social infrastructure, including housing and jobs, to support new arrivals.
Mr Gourlie suggested Canada’s sponsorshipstyle refugee support, whereby community and religious groups supported individual families, was ‘‘a good idea’’ for New Zealand.
Dunedin-based Immigration Minister Michael Woodhouse, who visited Malaysia last week to inspect New Zealand’s refugee interview processes, said he was interested in Canada’s sponsored support.
He would introduce a policy later this year to get 25 extra refugees into the country under sponsorship, Mr Woodhouse said.
However, while the Government had already increased its quota, it was ‘‘concerned about the quality of the settlement’’, namely the number of working-age refugees in employment, the success of children at school and the amount of health support they required, he said.
‘‘It’s also about making sure the people we take settle well.’’
Many of the refugees arriving in New Zealand went through three or four interviews with organisations, including Immigration New Zealand and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), allowing their stories to be checked for ‘‘consistency.’’
‘‘There is a significant preamble to the arrival of refugees in New Zealand.’’
Gerard Aynsley, the former chairman of the Dunedin Refugee Steering Group, said he was troubled by the events in the US.
Welcoming refugees, as Dunedin had done, was a ‘‘good counter’’ to Mr Trump’s approach.
New Zealand Red Cross acting secretary-general Anne Smith said in a statement the organisation was ‘‘confident’’ the country had ‘‘the capacity to do more to meet the ongoing humanitarian need’’, demonstrated by the ‘‘continual offers of support’’ from New Zealanders.
‘‘In the current global climate, support for refugees . .. has never been more important.’’
While the official New Zealand quota is 750 refugees a year, 250 extra emergency places have been added to the intake from 2016 to 2018.
Mr Woodhouse said at the end of the emergency intake, the quota would officially increase to 1000 refugees a year.
Advocates of the ‘‘double the quota’’ campaign want intake figures increased to 1500 a year.
GRETA.YEOMAN@thestar.co.nz
