8. Refugees—QuotaHon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE (National) to the Minister of ImmigrationRefugees—Quota8. Hon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE (National) to the Minister of Immigration: When he said of the refugee quota We are very firm in our commitment to increase that quota and our commitment before the election was to do that during the first term in Government and that is still my plan" was he speaking in his ministerial capacity or as an individual with "a personal commitment to increasing the refugee quota" as described by the Prime Minister?Hon IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY (Minister of Immigration): Both.Hon Michael Woodhouse: OK. In that case when he advised officials on 15 November 2017 that he "would like a plan for increasing the annual refugee quota to 1500 places to be developed by the middle of 2018" was he speaking as Minister of Immigration or as an individual with "a personal commitment to increasing the refugee quota"?Hon IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY: As Minister of Immigration I am continuing to advocate for an increase in the quota to 1500 and I am preparing myself so that I can seek the agreement of my Cabinet colleagues through the usual Cabinet processes.Hon Michael Woodhouse: When following a 29 March briefing to him entitled "Options for staging the increase in the refugee quota" he directed officials to draft a paper to be taken to Cabinet in June "seeking agreement to permanently increase the annual refugee quota to 1500 places" did he do so as Minister of Immigration or as an individual with "a personal commitment to increasing the refugee quota"?Hon IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY: I did so as Minister of Immigration. And as a sensible Minister of Immigration I have looked at some of the capacity issues that we inherited from the previous Government—not least the appalling housing crisis that the country is facing—and I know that before we increase the quota the sensible thing to do is to address those capacity issues.Hon Michael Woodhouse: When he received a document titled "Increasing the refugee quota: options for staging the increase to 1500 places annually by June 2020" did he do so as Minister of Immigration or as an individual with "a personal commitment to increasing the refugee quota"?Hon IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY: I did it as a Minister with a personal commitment to increasing the refugee quota.Hon Michael Woodhouse: Does he agree with Newshub that the Prime Minister has thrown him under a bus on this issue by backing down on the Government's plan to increase the number of refugees after the policy already received funding in the latest Budget?Hon IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY: In relation to the last part of that question the funding that the member refers to was funding for the expansion of the Māngere Refugee Resettlement Centre which as I said yesterday is necessary regardless of whether there is an increase to the quota or not. In regards to any bus I haven't seen a bus and I think an articulation of normal Government processes which I would've thought that member would be aware of doesn't constitute any form of bus.Hon James Shaw: Given the renewed level of concern about the plight of refugees on Nauru and around the world would the Minister be prepared to test whether there is now a parliamentary majority in favour of increasing the refugee quota to 1500?Hon IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY: Were there an opportunity to do so I'd certainly be interested to see how the Opposition would vote on that."