REFUGEES: ARE WE DOING OUR BIT?

* The world is facing the most displacement since WWII. More than 60 million are displaced with 20 million of those as refugees. * Australia has five times our population but takes 18 times our refugee intake. * The Government plans to increase the quota to 1000 by 2018. * Doing Our Bit calculates the quota now should be 1541 taking into account population growth since the quota was first set in 1987. * New Zealand has offered 600 extra places for Syrian refugees over three years, but Doing Our Bit points out that Australia is accepting four times as many per capita, and have done so in half the time.

Stephens said a large contingent of New Zealand’s refugees come from Myanmar, many of whom were farmers who had lived in rural areas.

‘‘If the Government wanted to match people to their skills there is so much more they could do, and places like Masterton and Wairarapa would be perfect.’’

Masterton is set to host the campaign tour next Wednesday. The keynote speaker will be cycling race director Jorge Sandoval, one of New Zealand’s most prominent and outspoken refugees.

Sandoval fled oppression at the hands of the Pinochet regime in his native Chile in the 1970s.

‘‘I think New Zealand needs more refugees, particularly in the Wairarapa. This place would be perfect . . . it’s a very close community,’’ he said.

Government support was crucial. ’’When I came as a refugee 40 years ago it was totally different from now . . . I had to find a job, do everything, find a house and I didn’t know anything about how to do it.’’

Doing Our Bit campaign’s main focus is to persuade the Government to do two things: double the number of people taken into the country as refugees and double the funding to support them after they arrived.

Political parties such as the Greens and The Opportunities Party had refugee increases as part of their policies, Stephens said.