How many is too many refugees?

(Reuters)
(Reuters)

In the face of the biggest humanitarian crisis on record, pressure is mounting on our government to lift our refugee quota above 750.

According to the UN there are around 60 million people displaced by war worldwide - a figure that has almost doubled in a decade.

Despite this, the Government has refused to increase our quota from a level that has remained fixed since 1987.

Our Government spends $58 million every year on resettling refugees and New Zealand is one of only 26 countries with resettled refugees referred here by the UN.

While our quota remains fixed at 750, we actually take in 1100 people annually when you include asylum seekers and those settled under the family reunification criteria.

The debate today is how many more we can and should take.

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