The Government's decision to accept 600 Syrian refugees above the yearly quota was met with measured optimism at a campus panel discussion on the refugee crisis yesterday.
''When you look at the Government's announcement today, you should put it in context,'' University of Otago political scientist Dr Bryce Edwards said to the audience of about 50 people.
''We're really only having 200 extra [refugees] per year, which is not even one a day. It really is the bare minimum.''
Green Party co-leader Metiria Turei also spoke on the panel, alongside film-maker and former journalist Lucia Dore and resettled Iraqi refugee and University of Otago information science PhD candidate Mostafa Alwash.
The discussion was chaired by freelance journalist and Southern District Health Board communications executive director Steve Addison.
Ms Turei said ''we should be thinking about places like Dunedin'' for refugee resettlement.
''And there are heaps of rural areas throughout the country that would benefit from refugees,'' she added.
Ms Turei said the campaign to double New Zealand's quota, led by Amnesty International New Zealand, was ''a start''.
If it was successful, she said, it would be ''the first major breakthrough in over 20 years''.
But Dr Edwards reminded attendees that even doubling the quota would only bring New Zealand up to half Australia's refugee quota per capita.
''I think we're moving beyond [the double the quota campaign] now,'' he said.
''It's an amazing chance at the moment where everyone's talking about refugees ... suddenly, we do have the opportunity to have much higher horizons.''
