Refuge New Zealand: A Nation's Response to Refugees and Asylum Seekers.

• Jurisdiction: New Zealand
• Date: 01 March 2014
• Author: Alley, Roderic

REFUGE NEW ZEALAND: A Nation's Response to Refugees and Asylum Seekers

Author: Ann Beaglehole

Published by: Otago University Press, Dunedin, 2013, 263pp, $40.

In an important speech made shortly after becoming prime minister in 1972, Norman Kirk asserted: 'we shall strive to relate what we say and do abroad to the values that govern our policies at home.... We believe in the individual worth and dignity of every man, woman and child regardless of race or colour.' While inconsistent in its application, Kirk's aspiration has been a constant in New Zealand foreign policy following the experience of what real marginalisation meant during the Great Depression. However, this has been tempered by a wary pragmatism, ever alert to domestic sentiment and the wishes of stronger allies. While partly buffered by its isolation, New Zealand has remained alert to the global controversy surrounding refugee and asylum seeking. This has forced continued policy change, not all of which has been positive. These tensions have persisted in New Zealand's handling of refugee and asylum seeking, comprehensively analysed in this wide ranging, well-sourced and thorough investigation by Ann Beaglehole.

Since 1944, when they were first distinguished from other migrants in its...