Ardern: Annual refugee quota will be raised to 1,500

WellINGToN: New Zealand plans to increase the number of refugees it takes each year from 1,000 to 1,500.

Liberal Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced yesterday that the new quota would take effect from 2020.

The country had previously been criticised for not taking enough refugees after the annual quota stayed at 750 for 30 years before it was raised to 1,000 this year.

Ardern said moving the number to 1,500 was a significant increase.

“It is the right thing to do. It puts New Zealand more in line with the humanitarian policies of other developed countries,” she added.

Ardern said she did not anticipate the negative reaction to refugees that some people had in countries like Germany because New Zealand gave refugees intensive support to ensure that they had adequate housing and were well integrated into the community.

“We have one of the best records globally in the way we resettle,” Ardern said. “So no, I don’t anticipate having those issues.”

New Zealand focused most of its efforts on resettling refugees from the Asia-Pacific region, said Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway.

The quota increase comes at a time when overall immigration to New Zealand is forecast by the government to decline, from current near-record levels of about 70,000 to just over 50,000 by 2020.

The new policy is not likely to help the more than 600 refugees who are stuck on the tiny Pacific island of Nauru after they tried to reach Australia by boat.

New Zealand has offered to take some of those refugees, but so far Australia has declined, saying it is worried the refugees will use New Zealand as a backdoor to gain access to Australia.