Locke Keith: General Debate 
Locke Keith: General Debate 
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KEITH LOCKE (Green) 
: 
 Good-hearted New Zealanders were shocked when their Prime Minister so bluntly rejected the appeals of Tamil boat people who had arrived in Indonesia on the  
Alicia 
 to come to New Zealand. John Key said: “Our very simple message to them is they are not welcome here”. It is so much against the New Zealand character to be so heartless to people who have probably experienced great tragedy in their lives and are fleeing ongoing persecution. Those Tamils on the  
Alicia 
 probably had family members among the estimated 40000 Tamils killed in the final phase of the Sri Lankan civil war. They may have been displaced from their homes or they may have relatives among the thousands of Tamils still detained in prison camps. 
To add insult to injury John Key attacked the boat people as being “queue jumpers”. This was odd because John Key’s own mother was an asylum seeker who fled from Nazi Germany to Britain in 1939. For Jewish refugees like her there was no queue to join. They simply took their chances and fled often crossing borders illegally and without passports to seek refuge in places like Britain. John Key said yesterday that when asylum seekers “land at our airports”— 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I am reluctant to interrupt my colleague at this point but I note that Government members have not. It has generally been a matter of taste not to bring family members into debates in the way that the member has. I think generally it has been frowned upon in the House because members are elected not their family members. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The member makes a good point. I did not stop the honourable member because I was listening carefully to see whether he said anything negative about the member’s family. Despite that I think the Hon Trevor Mallard has raised a good point. It is best not to bring family members into a debate. 
KEITH LOCKE 
: Speaking to the point of order yes I did think about that when I formulated this speech but I am not in any way criticising John Key’s mother or her relationship; I am just drawing what I think is a friendly parallel. That is all. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I have not stopped the honourable member; I just ask him to bear in mind the valid point raised by the Hon Trevor Mallard. 
KEITH LOCKE 
: John Key said yesterday that when asylum seekers “land at our airport we turn them back”. It would have been very bad if John Key’s mother had been turned back into Hitler’s Germany. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: That is in my view getting into unfortunate territory. I think that is unhelpful. We do not bring family members into the debate and especially to use it against a member is in my view not good. I ask the member to desist from that. 
KEITH LOCKE 
: John Key has forgotten that we are required under the 1951 refugee convention to process all asylum seekers arriving at our shores and to accept those who are genuinely in danger of persecution back home. There is really no difference between refugees who arrive directly at our airports those who come from refugee camps in Thailand or Kenya and those who are processed by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees when they arrive in Indonesia on boats. 
Last year we took in several Sri Lankan Tamil boat people who had been taken aboard an Australian boat the  
Oceanic Viking 
 
and processed by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. John Key—and he may not be conscious of this—is in effect playing up to a redneck gallery of xenophobes who see refugees and sometimes all people of other cultures as a threat to our society. The truth is the opposite: refugees starting a new life in New Zealand are highly motivated to achieve and to have their kids achieve. The Sri Lankan Tamil community which has a significant portion of refugees is one of the highest-achieving communities in New Zealand. It is full of doctors engineers and other professionals.  
Campbell Live  
had a story last night on how well the Afghan  
Tampa  
boys boat people who were taken in 10 years ago are prospering in New Zealand. 
John Key also raised the spectre of hordes of boat people swamping New Zealand. He said that: “If you are going to take this boat there are just thousands and thousands of other boats which will come.” That is so silly. Of course refugees want to come to New Zealand; it is a great place. Our reputation as a hospitable place was enhanced 10 years ago when we took in Afghan boat people from the  
Tampa 
 after they had been callously rejected by John Howard’s Australian Government. 
Yet in the 10 years since then not a single asylum seekers’ boat has made it to New Zealand. Why is that? Because it is cheaper and easier to travel in a smaller boat from Sri Lanka to Indonesia or Australia. It is possible that a boat might make it to New Zealand—a couple of boats have made it to Canada—but thousands and thousands of boats? That is not really on. 
We should welcome the fact that asylum seekers want to come to New Zealand. It should warm our hearts to be so appreciated. If one or two boats happen to turn up sometime why should we not give refuge to those on board if they are genuine asylum seekers? There is room in our country for more Sri Lankan asylum seekers. In the last 3 years we have not even filled our annual refugee quota of 750 people. We took in 700 in 2008-09 we took in 709 in 2009-10 and we took in 527 in 2010-11. Why not do it? We can arrange it through the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. It would also be good for us to continue to cooperate with Australian authorities to take in some of the many boat people who arrive in that country’s waters as we did last year when we took in some Sri Lankan Tamils from the Australian customs boat the  
Oceanic Viking.