Auckland rally set to call for more refugees

A rally calling for the Government to welcome significantly more refugees to New Zealand will be held in Auckland's Aotea Square tomorrow.

Organisers are expecting hundreds of people to turn out for the 'Welcome 10,000 Now' demonstration, organised by the Refugees are Welcome Here collective.

Poets and musicians will join refugees and community leaders from Kurdistan, Syria, Palestine, Chile, Sudan, Arabia, Burma and Iraq at the event, which kicks off at 2pm.

Unions and anti-poverty groups will also attend as a display of solidarity between both deprived groups, the Unite Union said.

The "carnival-style" rally will also raise funds for the Auckland Refugee Council, which provides frontline support to refugees who arrive in the region.

First Union secretary Robert Reid, who is urging members to attend the rally, today backed calls to significantly lift the refugee intake.

Referring to the case of Kiribati man Ioane Teitiota, who is fighting to become a climate change refugee but is facing deportation on Monday, Mr Reid said: "The apparent decision to deport a family of climate change refugees before their case is heard at the United Nations is unethical. It isn't in the spirit of social justice.

"Nor is the Government's recent announcement that it will reluctantly accept 600 more Syrian refugees. This is pathetic in light of the scale of the global refugee crisis.

"This is a human crisis that demands an urgent and compassionate response from our Government."

Mr Reid called on the Government to immediately upgrade and expand refugee settlement centres and "get ready to play our part".