Key: NZ not immune to people-smuggling

Prime Minister John Key meets with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak at the Blue House in Seoul, South Korea. Photo / NZPA

SEOUL - New Zealand is not prepared to extend the number of refugees it accepts and needs to address the increasing risk of people-smuggling boats hitting our shores, says Prime Minister John Key.

Mr Key has been discussing with new Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard the possibility of being involved in a "regional processing centre" in the Pacific for dealing with asylum seekers or "boat people". East Timor has also been included in the discussions.

Held last night, talks about such an initiative pre-empted a call today by Ms Gillard that the Australian government intended to come down hard on people-smugglers while showing some compassion for those legitimately seeking refuge.

Australia is commonly targeted by people-smugglers who take money from those seeking asylum and pack them onto boats under the guise of good prospects. How harshly to deal with them has for a long time been a political hot potato in that country.

Mr Key said today the problem was increasingly relevant for New Zealand.

"The first thing I would say is that New Zealand is not immune to that issue. I have been warning New Zealanders for quite some time that these boats are becoming larger and therefore more capable of coming to New Zealand."

He said he told Ms Gillard New Zealand wasn't interested in increasing its refugee take of 750 a year under the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) system, nor was it interested in accepting a reduction in the quality of the refugees it accepts.

"But we are prepared to sit down with the Australians and have a discussion with them to see whether there is a solution. But the solution from our perspective has to ensure that it acts as a strong deterrent for those who are engaging in people smuggling and doesn't act as some sort of magnet to increase the number of boats that are coming to Australia - and maybe one day to New Zealand."

Mr Key said Australia, Canada and New Zealand were preferred destinations for boat people, but New Zealand was difficult to access because of its isolation. "But there is no question they are targeting New Zealand."

He said that had happened last year when a boat load of Sri Lankan asylum seekers indicated New Zealand was its destination but was given a strong signal it wasn't welcome.

Mr Key said a processing centre - which would not be on New Zealand soil - was likely to reward legitimate asylum seekers coming through the UNHCR system while blocking the illegal immigrants. What would happen to those illegal immigrants was not yet clear and whether such an arrangement would act as a deterrent was also difficult to assess.

Mr Key said more discussions about boat people would be held in the future and would be on a "no promises" basis, but coming up with a regional solution made sense.

- NZPA