Refugee quota up to 1500
The annual refugee quota will lift from 1000 to 1500 by 2020, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has announced.
The announcement ends several weeks of speculation that NZ First would shoot down any attempt by the Government to raise the quota, and fulfils a Labour campaign promise to raise the quota within their first term of Government.
The quota increase will take place in July 2020.
Since July 1 the annual refugee quota has sat at 1000, after National announced a raise from 750 in 2016.
Labour campaigned on doubling the quota from 750 to 1500 in their first term of Government, and seemed confident that this policy would make it through Cabinet as recently as August.
But early this month Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters cast doubt on this, saying he wanted the Government to help Kiwis in strife before raising the quota.
‘‘We never made a commitment to double the refugee quota,’’ Peters said when questioned by reporters.
When it was suggested Labour had, Peters said: ‘‘Labour’s not the government.’’
‘‘We’ve got 50,000 people who are homeless back home, and I can show you parts of the Hokianga and elsewhere, parts of Northland, where people are living in degradation.
Peters, who appeared alongside Ardern at the announcement yesterday, said he was now sure the Government was already addressing the issues in New Zealand, pointing specifically to Housing Minister Phil Twyford’s ‘‘explosion in house-building.’’
Ardern said Labour had always campaigned on raising the quota in its first term, which is what they were doing.
She said she had not yet considered whether Labour would campaign on raising the quota further in the 2020 election. There was no discussion of whether to introduce a mechanism to automatically raise the quota.
The decision was made in a cabinet subcommittee yesterday.
Ardern said there had been no ‘‘quid pro quo’’ to get NZ First to agree to the deal, while Peters rejected the idea that his party had ever horse traded on any policy in its history.
National leader Simon Bridges said his party opposed the increase but did not commit to reversing it if elected in 2020, although he did leave that option open.
‘‘This is something cobbled together just before the Prime Minister goes out to the UN on the world stage,’’ Bridges said.
He noted each refugee cost $100,000 a year and said National supported keeping the quota at 1000.
‘‘It’s not that we’re in principle against going up,’’ Bridges said.
‘‘It’s not the number one issue for the National Party today. We’re much more focused on issues for New Zealanders today.’’
Bridges said Peters must have gotten some kind of payback from Labour for ‘‘eating humble pie’’ on this issue.
‘‘There has got to be a secret deal between NZ First and the Labour Party on this.’’
The Green Party, who campaigned on raising the quota to 5000, welcomed the decision.
‘‘At this moment in global history, taking more refugees is a reflection of the strength of our values. It is the right thing to do,’’ Green immigration spokeswoman Golriz Ghahraman said.
DoubleTheQuota campaign manager Murdoch Stephens said the campaign was ‘‘elated’’ on Twitter.
In the 2018 Budget, in May, the Government said an extra $6.2 million was being spent over four years on operating funding to support refugees, along with an extra $7.7m for two new accommodation blocks at the Mangere Refugee Resettlement Centre.
Expanded refugee and humanitarian services would help meet future commitments to increase refugee numbers, Immigration Minister Iain LeesGalloway said at the time.