A new grouping of social agencies is adding its voice to calls for refugees to be sent to Dunedin.
But the Dunedin Refugee Steering Group hopes the move will go one step further, by encouraging the Government to lift New Zealand's overall refugee quota as well.
The message was delivered to the Dunedin City Council on behalf of the steering group yesterday by South Dunedin Catholic priest Fr Gerard Aynsley.
The group represented agencies including the Dunedin Refugee Support Group and the Dunedin Multi Ethnic Council and had support from churches, the Dunedin Council of Social Services and Otago Polytechnic, among others.
Fr Aynsley, speaking during the public forum at yesterday's community and environment committee meeting, told councillors the group wanted Dunedin to be considered as a centre for refugee resettlement.
Dunedin had a proud history of accepting and integrating refugees and had the infrastructure needed to do so again, he believed.
The group's call had also been made directly to Immigration Minister Michael Woodhouse, a Dunedin-based National Party list MP, last month.
Staff in Mr Woodhouse's office had responded while referring the call to Immigration New Zealand for consideration.
International concern has already prompted the Government to accept 600 more Syrian refugees over the next three years, on top of the country's existing quota.
At present, all refugees arriving in New Zealand go first to the Mangere Refugee Resettlement Centre for a six to eight-week stay before being sent to one of four other centres in Waikato, Wellington, Manawatu and Nelson.
Immigration NZ is yet to decide where the extra refugees will be sent after Mangere, but Mayor Dave Cull has also called for Dunedin to be their destination.
Fr Aynsley told yesterday's meeting Dunedin would also be ''a good option'' to host a second centre, like Mangere's, if the Government wanted to replicate what was offered there.
Mr Woodhouse last month told the Otago Daily Times the Government was not considering investment in a new refugee facility like Mangere's in Dunedin.
But Immigration NZ was still considering where in New Zealand to send the extra Syrian refugees after they left Mangere, and ''that's where the city could potentially provide support''.
Fr Aynsley hoped other centres would follow in Dunedin's footsteps by offering their support to host more refugees.
If they did, the Government would have ''little excuse'' to keep New Zealand's annual refugee quota at 750, which was ''on the lower end of the scale'' internationally, he said.
There would be challenges if refugees were sent to Dunedin, including finding employment, he said.
Some refugees could also face health issues after spending years in refugee camps. But the city stood to be enriched by refugees' contributions, he believed.
''I think it's too easy to see the refugee crisis as a problem ... I think when we welcome people we are enriched by that.''
