Posts Tagged ‘Syria’
Health Minister Jonathan Coleman has announced $17.2 million of the health budget has been ring-fenced to pay for the health checks and ongoing needs of the 750 Syrian refugees New Zealand has agreed to take.
A total of 298 Syrian refugees have arrived in New Zealand since the Government announced it would take 750 over 2.5 years from Syria in September last year.
Coleman said the funding was for the next four years and would be used for health checks and immunisations at the Mangere Refugee Resettlement Centre as well as the DHBs in Wellington and Dunedin where most Syrians were being re-settled.
“You will have people arriving who have been exposed to some pretty shocking stuff and some of them will need counselling, you may have women who are pregnant who probably haven’t had very good ante-natal care. They won’t be up to date with immunisations, unsurprisingly.”
In September last year the Government announced it would take 750 Syrian refugees by mid 2018 of which 600 would be on top of the usual quota of 750 a year.
The 750 refugees were expected to cost an extra $48.8 million over that period on top of the $58 million a year spent on refugee settlement. (more…)
August 8th, 2016 |
Tags: health budget, refugees, Syria
JUST a fifth of migrants registering for asylum in Europe are from Syria, shocking EU statistics have revealed.
Campaigners and left-wing MPs have previously blasted the government for doing little to help refugees who they insisted were mainly coming from Syria.
But out of the astonishing 213,000 arrivals the EU logged between April and June, only 44,000 were fleeing the war-torn state.
Sceptics criticised campaigners over the revelation, accusing them of selling a lie about the number of people trying to escape the conflict.
Conservative MP David Davies claimed the new figures published by Eurostat reveal “the lie peddled in some quarters that vast numbers of those reaching Europe are from Syria”.
Mr Davies said: “Most people who are escaping the war will go to camps in Lebanon or Jordan.
“Many of those who have opted to risk their lives to come to Europe have done so for economic reasons.”
“Diversity” failure
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11376355
A Kiwi accused of obtaining a New Zealand passport to fight in Syria will stand trial in Melbourne.
Amin Mohamed, 23, is charged with four counts of preparing to enter a foreign state to engage in hostile activities.
The court was told Mohamed, a New Zealand citizen, was connected to an extremist criminal syndicate alleged to have been recruiting Australians to fight with jihadists in Syria.
Court documents alleged Somalia-born Mohamed obtained a phone service under a false name, applied for a New Zealand passport and booked a flight from Brisbane to Istanbul, the Herald Sun reported.
Mohamed moved to New Zealand in 1998 as a refugee with his mother and four sisters after his father was killed in the Somali civil war.
Video: Dutch politician: ‘The Netherlands must be de-Islamised, all Mosques must be closed.’
Without Islam, the Netherlands would be a wonderful country, says Dutch politician Machiel de Graaf with the PVV party to the Dutch Parliament.
Our leaders “Hate” hearing White people speak.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/64188729/Concern-at-growth-of-hate-group
A right-wing white supremacist group says its membership in Taranaki is growing.
The Right Wing Resistance (RWR) group is distributing fliers around New Plymouth calling from immigration from Ebola-infected countries to stop.
NZ based real estate website targets Chinese buyers
A New Zealand-based website marketing New Zealand homes to the Chinese is reaching around 22 million people every year.
New Zealand is becoming a more popular destination for the Chinese, and the website director says no capital gains tax is one of the main reasons.
Opposition political parties say it’s about time the Government put some policies in place.
More than 90 percent of houses on the market in New Zealand are also being directly marketed to Chinese buyers through a website called HouGarden.com. Around 60 percent of the website traffic is based in China and it has around 22 million views every year.
Director Sam Yin says his website is a way for real estate agents to reach those offshore buyers.
“Our role is to help them achieve and access more in the Chinese market.”
He says Chinese buyers are increasingly looking here because we have no capital gains tax and there are no policies restricting them from buying up land.
“A lot of countries like Australia, Canada and Amercia already have the policy to limit overseas buyers,” says Mr Yin. “I don’t think New Zealand has anything yet, but it will happen.”
Shi Li bought his home through HouGarden.com this year and says it’s the best and biggest website for New Zealand real estate in China.
“All of my friends know this website,” he says. “Two of my friends have bought the houses through HouGarden.”
HouGarden.com has billboards around Auckland City and has plans to put up more throughout New Zealand for more traffic to the website.
Immigration boom pressures housing market
http://www.3news.co.nz/business/housing-pressured-by-immigration-boom-2014121613#axzz3MEpn4FoN
Booming immigration will put even more pressure on the housing market, the Treasury says.
In its latest economic update, released today, the Treasury forecasts the net migration gain will peak at around 52,000 in the first quarter of next year.
That compares with the current annual rate of about 42,500, which is high by recent standards.
“If the current strength persists it would put additional pressure on the housing market and add further impetus to domestic demand,” the Treasury says.
Sydney siege “elephant in the room” - NZ judge
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11375502
A New Zealand judge has made reference to the Sydney siege as “the elephant in the room” while sentencing a man who shouted jihadist slogans at a Muslim leader.
Imran Patel, 25, appeared in Auckland District Court yesterday on a charge of threatening behaviour following a dispute around the Avondale Islamic Centre in May.
Judge Ema Aitken said the case featured shades of extremism, but could not be compared to the gravity of the incident in Australia the previous day.
The flashpoint in West Auckland came after Salafist imam Abu Abdullah and his supporters were trespassed from the mosque after allegations he was spreading extremist messages.
The stoush progressed further when former New Zealand Muslim Association president Haider Lone - an administrator at the Avondale centre - was seriously assaulted.
Mr Lone sustained serious facial injuries and was recovering at home with his family when Patel and an associate turned up on his doorstep.
Judge Aitken said the defendant was making statements about jihad, yelling “Allahu Akbar” (Allah is the greatest) and making victory signs with his fingers.
“Show us your face. Show us your pretty face,” Patel said, in reference to Mr Lone’s recent injuries.
Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand president Dr Anwar Ghani said he hoped the Avondale Islamic Centre would reopen soon after being closed for the last seven months.
Chinese seek bigger stake in Oamaru meat plant
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/business/327461/chinese-seek-bigger-stake-oamaru-meat-plant
Overseas Investment Office approval is being sought to increase a Chinese-based shareholding in Lean Meats’ Oamaru plant.
NZ Binxi (Oamaru) Foods, whose shares were owned by Heilongjiang Binxi Cattle Industry Co Ltd, has already bought a 24.9% stake in the plant and wants to increase that to 50%.