Former school possible site for refugee resettlement centre:
A former Ma¯ ori boarding school in Rangitı¯kei is being mooted as the perfect site for a second refugee resettlement centre.
But the agreements between NZ First, Labour and Green parties, along with previous statements from Immigration Minister Iain Lees-galloway, suggest the idea might be no more than that.
Turakina Ma¯ ori Girls’ College, near the Rangitı¯kei town of Marton, is for sale, with tenders due March 8.
The school closed in January 2016, when then-education Minister Hekia Parata said the school was ‘‘breaking down in almost every important dimension’’.
Bayleys Palmerston North director Karl Cameron said he initially thought a buyer would be a church group, a private training provider, or an iwi.
However, there was now a push for it to become a second refugee resettlement centre, he said.
New Zealand’s only refugee resettlement centre is in Mangere, Auckland.
‘‘Recent political and policy statements being broadcast by the new Government have brought the distinct likelihood that New Zealand will shortly be looking for a new refugee and asylum-seeker resettlement centre,’’ Cameron said.
Those statements include the Greens’ wish to see the annual refugee quota lifted from 1000 people to 5000 people by 2024.
The former school had all the facilities needed, including a commercial-grade kitchen, full gymnasium and swimming pool, grassed playing fields, astro-turf courts and boarding dormitories, he said.
The site also still contained many carved waharoa (framed entrances), pou whenua (post or boundary markers) and tukutuku (weaved wall tapestries), which Cameron said would help migrants learn about the importance of tangata whenua.
If statements made by Leesgalloway on the campaign trail before September’s election are anything to go by, the plan is unlikely get off the ground.
In June, Lees-galloway said Labour made its policy of raising the refugee quota from 1000 to 1500 after getting advice from those who work with refugees.
A second centre would not be needed under that plan due to recent upgrades to Mangere, he said.
And there is unlikely to be an increase to the Greens’ desired 5000-per-year level.
The only mention of refugees in the Greens-labour confidence and supply agreement is about the family reunification scheme.
There are no mentions of refugees in the Labour-nz First coalition agreement.