Editorial: PM needs to heed the calls to help

Mark Dawson, Editor of Wanganui Chronicle

WILL the heartbreaking photo of the body of a 3-year-old boy washed up on a Turkish beach after a boatload of would-be migrants sank do what various political parties and organisations have failed to do?

Will it soften the heart of Prime Minister John Key enough to see New Zealand lift its 30-year-old refugee quota?

The image of 3-year-old Aylan Kurdi lying face down at the water's edge has shot around the world. It may prove as powerful as it is pitiful; as galvanising as it is shocking.

It encapsulates the refugee crisis gripping Europe and elsewhere in a horribly eloquent and uniquely personal way. It also shows the power of the media - and particularly of a photograph - to make an impact, one whose repercussions are still being played out.

Mr Key has resisted calls from the United Nations, Unicef and the Green Party, among others, to lift our refugee quota of 750 per year, but the call is to double that number, starting with an emergency intake in the face of the mass exodus from Syria.

New Zealand is ranked 87th in the world for total refugee resettlement per capita - most Kiwis would like to think we are a little better than that. So the pressure for the Government to take action is growing and will only get greater in the days ahead.

One of the arguments for the recent deployment of troops to Iraq was that New Zealand had to be a team player on the world stage. Surely that argument holds even greater sway when applied to the current crisis.