Thursday 31 March
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ActionStation statement on Labour, Green & United Future support for doubling refugee quota.
Marianne Elliott, spokesperson for ActionStation has the following statement to make in regard to announcements by the Labour, Green and United Future parties at a petition delivery today that they officially support the doubling of the refugee quota;
“ActionStation members are deeply encouraged today to see both Government allies and opposition parties come out in support of New Zealand doing the right thing by doubling our refugee quota. We agree with Hon. Peter Dunne that the current quota is pitifully and embarrassingly too low, and that it is long overdue time to double it. Having United Future, Labour and the Greens all come out strongly in support of doubling the quota today shows the power of ordinary New Zealanders coming together to tell politicians loud and clear that we support them doing the right thing.”
Murdoch Stephens from Doing Our Bit, who partnered with ActionStation for the campaign said:
“The government has had more than enough time to measure capacity. Last November, Immigration New Zealand said that we had the capacity to increase the quota to 1500 places and the government is now just dragging the chain.”
David Seymour also made a strong call for increasing the quota, while stopping short of calling to double it. “We haven't changed it since 1987 and our capacity to absorb and support people has grown enormously since then,” said Seymour.
ENDS