Refugees from Oz camps land in NZ

The first refugees to come to New Zealand after spending years in offshore Australian detention camps have arrived.

The group landed in Auckland yesterday afternoon, with the Government confirming the first six refugees were on board.

A spokesperson for Immigration Minister Michael Wood said the Australian and New Zealand Governments were continuing to work together ‘‘to resettle 150 refugees annually from Australia’s existing regional processing cohort’’. An almost 10-year offer from New Zealand to resettle 150 refugees a year from Australia was finally agreed to in March.

The offer allows 150 asylum seekers a year, either from Nauru or temporarily held in Australia for regional processing, to come to New Zealand as refugees. The offer spans three years. The refugees also have to meet New Zealand’s Refugee Quota Programme requirements.

As of March, there were 112 refugees and asylum seekers in Nauru. There were 1100 others taken to Australia for medical reasons, with half of those living in community detention and the other half on bridging visas. By the end of September, there was 32 people being processed for relocation to New Zealand under the 150 offer.

Wood said at the time the number of people was ‘‘not a big surprise’’ as it wasn’t always a quick process. As far as he was aware, no applicants had been denied by the UNHCR. Mustafa Derbashi of the Asylum Seeker Support Trust said there were a lot of other people waiting for a similar chance to be ‘‘treated as human beings’’.