Minister Defends Decision On Entry

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32018, 19 June 1969, Page 16

Minister Defends Decision On Entry

There had been no unreasonable delay by the Labour Department in dealing with an application by Mr and Mrs M. Le Miere, their daughter-in-law and child, to enter New Zealand, the Minister of Immigration (Mr Shand) said yesterday. He was commenting on the case of the Le Miere family, who-were refused entry to New Zealand when they arrived at Christchurch Airport from Kenya last week, returned to Sydney and were then admitted on a six-month permit.

The application forms for entry of the family were supplied to a relative in Christchurch in January, the Minister said. These did not reach Mr Le Miere in Kenya and the department sent forms direct to him early in March. They were returned on March 20, but were only partly completed, and the department sent another letter on April 15. Nothing more was heard from the family until they arrived at Christchurch without a permit. When anyone applied to come to New Zealand as a refugee or threw himself on the doorstep as a refugee, his predicament aroused sympathy and the first reaction was to open the doors and welcome him, Mr Shand said. However, before doing so the magnitude of the refugee problem must be considered. "When we speak of refugees we think first of the many thousands of people who live in exile from their country of birth without having been accepted as residents of any other country and' who are officially classed as refugees,” the Minister continued. “People in this category come under the official shelter of the world’s refugee organisations and New Zealand is generally credited with having taken its full share of responsibility for their care and rehabilitation. “There are two other categories of people who seek refuge and would, if given the opportunity, migrate to countries like New Zealand where the standard of living is high and racial intolerance heavlly frowned upon.”

The first were people living in appalling poverty in the under-developed countries. New Zealand could take only a limited number. The second category, into which Mr and Mrs Le Miere fell, were people who were not members of the indigenous population and who were meeting increasing prejudice in the countries of their birth or adoption. There were millions in Africa and Asia who were in this predicament, both Europeans ' and people of mixed blood. Again, New Zealand could - not accept them all, but were trying hard to give priority to those whose cases, was strongest. The Minister said the extension of the permit for the Le Mieres depended on satisfactory arrangements being made for employment, accommodation and other matters.