Labour to be applauded for lead on refugee quota

Today’s formal announcement of Labour’s policy to double New Zealand’s refugee quota has been welcomed by refugee advocate group Doing Our Bit.

“As the first party to formally back the policy Labour is to be congratulated”, said Doing Our Bit spokesperson Murdoch Stephens. “It was a Labour government that formalised the quota in 1987 and so it is great that they lead the charge for the first permanent and significant increase since that time.”

Labour’s Immigration spokesperson Iain Lees-Galloway will speak to the announcement as Doing Our Bit, along with ActionStation and Avaaz hand 20 546 signatures to the government backing the call to double the quota.

“Three decades with no refugee quota increase is an embarrassment. Our population is up more than 40% since then and our inflation adjusted GDP per capita has more than doubled. We have the capacity. We have the will. We need the leadership,” said Stephens.

Though the government offered 600 extra places last September, that only just makes up for the shortfalls in the quota over the last decade.

The Doing Our Bit campaign is asking that in the current review the government double the quota, double the funding and require Immigration New Zealand to consider population and GDP growth at each triennial quota review

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