New Zealand will receive 150 refugees from Australia, nine years after offer was made

New Zealand will receive up to 150 refugees a year from an Australian offshore detention facility on Nauru, more than nine years after the offer to take them was first made.

Immigration Minister Kris Faafoi and Australia Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews jointly announced that New Zealand would accept up to 150 refugees a year, for three years, on Thursday afternoon. The first refugees from Australia could arrive in New Zealand before the end of the year.

The deal was first struck by former prime ministers John Key and Julia Gillard in 2012, at a time when the Government wanted to contribute to Australia’s handling of asylum seekers who travelled by boat to Australia’s shores.

“It is about doing our bit in terms of a humanitarian effort in our region ... We've been saying for nine years that the offer of 150 is open because we want to make sure that we do our bit,” Faafoi said, in an interview.

The refugees that will be welcomed by New Zealand will come from an offshore detention centre run by Australia on Nauru, or will be those “temporarily” in Australia for processing. They will have to want to settle in New Zealand, apply for this through the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) process, and meet the criteria of New Zealand’s existing refugee quota requirements.

Faafoi said there were more than 80 asylum seekers on Nauru and more than 1000 in Australia.

“We don’t know how many of the people that are eligible are going to end up applying ... We will just have to see how that goes.”

A contentious aspect of the deal for Australia was that refugees headed to New Zealand might be granted full citizenship rights and therefore a “backdoor” into Australia.

Faafoi said no concession was made on this, and the refugees would be given full rights. But this did not rule out Australia developing a policy to later prevent these people from crossing its border.

“We didn't make any concessions. We've always said that this is an issue for Australia, in terms of whether it allows these refugees to visit Australia. I think they've made a decision, I think I'll leave that to them to flesh out their arrangements.

“These people will be permanent residents in New Zealand, and in five years will be citizens.”

Refugee agreement ‘long overdue’

Former refugee Behrouz Boochani, who was detained on Manus Island by Australia, said the agreement was an international achievement for New Zealand.

"New Zealand has done its role as a country who cares about human rights," he said.

It was now important the Government processed the refugees quickly given what they had been through, Boochani said.

“These refugees have been living in limbo, in very harsh conditions, in a very difficult situation for many years.

"Time is so important for refugees."

Abbas Nazari, a refugee who settled in New Zealand following the Tampa affair in 2001, said the agreement had been a long time coming. It was tragic the refugees had to wait so long, he said.

”I’m just ecstatic for the 150 or so asylum seekers who will be lucky enough to call New Zealand home after however many years in those detention centres,” he said.

Nazari said the agreement continued to put Australia and New Zealand’s approach to refugees in stark contrast.

“Just as New Zealand is better for accepting the Tampa refugees, I think we’ll be better and stronger for accepting and giving home to these refugees.”

Green Party human rights spokeswoman Golriz Ghahraman said it was “exceptionally good” that Australia had accepted the offer.

She said the Government should accept the 150 refugees on top of its annual quota of 1500, rather than within it.

“It's absolutely delightful, on behalf of the refugees that have been trapped in what's been called torture conditions on Australia's prison islands, that they finally get to be safe, be free, and have a home.

“It's very, very long overdue and the Australian Government does deserve continued harsh criticism for holding off accepting this offer.”

“Asylum seekers have an absolute right in both international and New Zealand, and Australian, law to approach a border by boat, by air, and claim asylum.”

Strict policy on asylum seekers

Australia has for decades held a hard-line stance on asylum seekers arriving by boat, and has run offshore “processing” or detention centres in both Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island and on Nauru.

The Manus Island centre was effectively closed in 2017, with hundreds of asylum seekers being left in Papua New Guinea.

Andrews, the Australian minister, said the agreement with New Zealand would not change Australia’s strict policy that asylum seekers arriving by boat would not be permitted to settle in the country.

“This arrangement does not apply to anyone who attempts an illegal maritime journey to Australia in the future. Australia remains firm – illegal maritime arrivals will not settle here permanently. Anyone who attempts to breach our borders will be turned back or sent to Nauru.”

Back in 2013, after the deal was first struck, then-prime minister Key said New Zealand relied “very heavily” on Australia to prevent people smuggling within the region.

“We can try and freeload on that process if we like, but I think as a regional partner it makes sense for us to not be duplicating those resources ... but in the end take some people through their system,” he said.

But Australia had refused to accept the offer in the years since, with political leaders citing concern that it might encourage asylum seekers or ultimately allow the refugees access to Australia.

New Zealand officials had each year maintained an allocation of 150 refugee spots for the Australia deal, re-allocating the spaces as the offer was not taken up.

Faafoi said the offer received “momentum” at the end of 2020, as other similar deals Australia had with the United States and Canada were winding down. New Zealand had signed off on its end of the deal last month.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Government has failed to fill its refugee quota of 1500 a year for three years running – in 2021, just 463 refugees were brought into the country.

Faafoi said there would be no opportunity to “backfill”, or catch up on the spaces that have not been filled.

“Our commitment, at this stage, continues to be 1500. Our ability to do much more than that per annum as limited by the capacity of the refugee centre, and also our ability to provide the wraparound support.”

SOURCE: Stuff

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