Despite the enormous impact of COVID-19 on the US, President Joe Biden has committed to dramatically increasing their refugee intake, calling it their ‘moral duty to democracy’. Closer to home, the NZ Government has revised and restarted its resettlement program, finding ways to safely bring more refugees to New Zealand.
Yet, the Australian Government has slashed the number of places available for refugees to resettle here by 5,000 places a year to 13,750.
This comes at a time where we need more places, not less. With the number of refugees in need of resettlement globally this year is predicted to top more than 1.4 million, this missed opportunity to do our bit as world citizens will have a lasting impact on people fleeing persecution — further exacerbating the existing refugee crisis.