Roche Denise: Oral Questions — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeRoche Denise: Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 09 September 2015. Volume:708;Page:6437. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]8.DENISE ROCHE (Green) to the Minister of Immigration: Does he agree with the manager of the Māngere Refugee Resettlement Centre who said “We’ll make it work” when asked if they can accommodate the extra Syrian arrivals?Hon CRAIG FOSS (Associate Minister of Immigration) on behalf of theMinister of Immigration: Yes of course the Minister agrees. We will make it work. That is what successful Governments do every day. That is why we have committed to a staggered intake of 750 Syrian refugees over the next 2½ years. The advice received was that 250 Syrian refugees at this stage in the current financial year would be challenging and anything more than that would put a strain on the resettlement process. But of course we will make it work. I do note for the member a media report this morning that found the Māngere Refugee Resettlement Centre to be “unexpectedly well-prepared for the influx of new migrants arriving under the government’s emergency refugee package”.Denise Roche: If New Zealand has the capacity to take this number of refugees on a short-term basis why will he not commit to increasing New Zealand’s quota on a permanent basis?Hon CRAIG FOSS: The Māngere Refugee Resettlement Centre has refugees for 6 weeks. These are lifetime movers to New Zealand and we need to make sure that they are able to move into our communities and build a better life for themselves in New Zealand. It is a lifetime decision not just a short-term capacity decision in Māngere.Denise Roche: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I do not think he answered the question. My question was about permanently raising the quota and he did not address that.Mr SPEAKER: I listened to the answer. It may not be satisfactory to the member and I am not surprised that it is not. But it still addressed the question that was asked. The answer is certainly consistent with the Standing Orders.Denise Roche: Is the Minister saying that the people who actually do the resettlements such as the Māngere Refugee Resettlement Centre and the Red Cross are wrong when they say that New Zealand can handle a refugee quota increase now?Hon CRAIG FOSS: I acknowledge the fine work that the Red Cross and many volunteers do on behalf of the Red Cross throughout New Zealand. Right now the advice we have is that given the infrastructure and financial resources we have and the ability to resettle refugees we are doing pretty good—750 additional refugees from Syria in particular on top of the 750 we take in per annum.Denise Roche: Given that there is no legal requirement to wait for a review to increase the refugee quota and the Minister has already had official advice on increasing the quota which the Minister said he needed why will he not raise the quota now?Hon CRAIG FOSS: As the Minister noted yesterday a review process is due in 2016. Right now we have already announced an extension to our refugee quota particularly targeted for those people from Syria to come into our country. The scheduled review process will be under way as scheduled next year.Denise Roche: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I really did not get an answer to the question I asked.Mr SPEAKER: If the member simply asked a simple question it would be helpful. The question is: why can the quota not be raised now? If it was a simple question like that I could assist in getting an answer. Would the Hon Craig Foss answer that part of the question.Hon CRAIG FOSS: The advice we have is that given the resources and infrastructure we have and the recent extension and additional refugees that we will allow to come into New Zealand that is what our system can handle at this point in time.