Finally!
Government to lift annual refugee quota to 1500
The Government will lift the annual refugee quota to 1500.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the increase will not take place immediately, but from July 2020.
The increase is 500 more than the current quota of 1000, which took effect from July this year.
Ardern was joined by Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters and Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway to make the announcement. The decision was made by the Cabinet committee today, she said.
So much for the media beat up regarding Government about to implode because Winston and Jacinda hadn’t agreed on a a lift in refugee numbers!
I’m someone who has always believed that we needed to triple our refugee intake to 3000 per year. We have an obligation as a liberal progressive democracy to bring in refugees to our homes. These people flee violence and flee war and deserve compassion not restrictions.
It has always been an embarrassment that we took in only 1000, it’s great to have a Government who acknowledge that. Let’s push for the 2020 election to have the Government take more than this 1500. The world is becoming more unstable, not less and with climate change and we are going to have to do our bit to help the wider planet as a responsible global citizen.
Well done everyone who campaigned and fought to increase this.
Now that’s some Fake news there!!
Thanks but No thanks….
The right step in the right direction, I presume, but not enough to make the Greens happy.
It was not so much a ‘media beat up’, in my opinion, it was probably more a case of feeling pressured by media reporting and some internal dissent, plus lobbying by others, that forced NZ First (aka Winston First) and Jacinda’s Labour colleagues to come to some positive and good looking solution.
Also does Jacinda hold a speech at the UN soon, and going there with a poor record on refugee intake, that would not have looked too great for her.
Winston has made a concession, a few more refugees as from 2020 onwards, but probably for a price that Labour will pay (another concession) in another area.
Big mistake !!
Example…. europe
BS – compare the per capita intake NZ has had, and will have, with that of other countries, it is still only a relatively small number of refugees that will be coming here.
And as Winston once said, he would agree to have a few more refugees, while the whole number of immigrants may be reduced. That means fewer coming in on various visas (to ‘study’, work or get PR through either, also family ‘reunion’), and a few more refugees coming for truly humanitarian reasons, as NZ only accepts such pre vetted and accepted by the UN in overseas processing centres.
No need to call for a NZ version of ‘UKIP’ here, my friend.
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