POSTING RULES & NOTES
#1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message.
#2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived.
#3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern.
*
John Passant wrote:
"Germany will on current estimates take 800,000 refugees this year.
Germany and Australia are comparable rich countries. Germany has not quite
four times Australia's population. So why aren't we talking about Australia
taking 200,000 refugees this year? We used to take that if not more
migrants. We could do it easily."
Australia will on current estimates take 12,000 additional refugees this
year. Australia and New Zealand are comparable rich countries. Australia
has not quite five times New Zealand's population. So why aren't we talking
about New Zealand taking 2,500 refugees this year? We typically take far
more migrants. We could do it easily.
Many New Zealanders look across 'the ditch' and criticise the Australian
government's horrific policy of internment on Nauru, and I understand that.
But New Zealand takes only 750 refugees per year (although the full quota
is often not even filled) and PM John Key's* great humanitarian response to
the current crisis is to take an extra 600 Syrian refugees over the next
two years. That's right, we don't even take in 1000 a year. The figure was
set at 800 in 1987 and *reduced* to 750 in 1997. It is due to be reviewed
next year but I'm not holding my breath for much change.
New Zealand loves to appear to have the high moral ground - when the
Howard government in Australia refused to take in the Tampa refugees (the
Tampa was a ship full of Afghan refugees), New Zealand Prime Minister Helen
Clark 'stepped up' and offered to take them all in. Great humanitarian act
eh! Except these became part of our 750 quota, so all they did was queue
jump other refugees. It was all about looking good but doing nothing.
Cheers,
John Edmundson
* Ironically, Key himself is the son of a Jewish refugee from Nazi
occupation, who grew up in a modest state house close to where I live, went
to his local state school (which he, as Prime Minister, closed), got a
state funded university education, then went on to become a
multi-millionaire currency trader in the City of London, before returning
home to grace us with his presence.
_
Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm
Set your options at:
http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
