By Lloyd Burr
Former Prime Minister Helen Clark says accepting refugees off the Tampa was a proud moment, and New Zealand has nothing to fear from asylum seekers.
Ms Clark dismissed John Key’s fears of boat loads hitting New Zealand shores as “highly unlikely”.
“I know in my own mind that the decision I took on the Tampa was the right decision and didn't lead to any fears of encouragement to come to New Zealand,” she told 3 News political reporter Patrick Gower from New York today.
“There's a very real and logistical and geographical reason for that... That is we are a long way away”.
Prime Minister John Key says it’s inevitable a ship of asylum seekers will reach New Zealand.
But Ms Clark said she never worried about boats arriving during her time in power.
“In essence, boats which are basically trafficking asylum seekers don’t tend to be particularly seaworthy. Just the sheer logistics make it unlikely”.
Ms Clark accepted refugees off the Tampa in 2001 after it picked them up after their fishing vessel ran into trouble in international waters.
“My experience with Tamper is that you had a humanitarian case of a boat that had actually sunk at sea and the Norwegian freighter took the people on board.
“People could sit on the deck of the freighter forever, something had to happen and that’s when our government stepped forward and said we were prepared to be apart of the solution. It was very specific to a very desperate situation where you had 438 men woman and children rescued form the sea with literally nowhere to go.
“It was a high risk political situation if you want to look at it on those terms. In first instance, people think ‘what on earth are you doing that for?’ but these people had to go somewhere, they had no boat, they had no means of support, they were really thrown on the mercy of a Norwegian captain who stopped for them, thank God he did.”
Ms Clark said there was no easy option.
“You could say ‘it’s nothing to do with us, it’s not in these waters, others can deal with it’ but we were compelled by the humanitarian situation at the time. It ended up being a decision that was well accepted. It wasn’t an easy decision but it was the right decision at the time.
“I said ‘I think we should act here, I intend to act’. I’ve never regretted that decision, in fact, I’m very proud of that decision.”
Ms Clark said there was speculation a boat could make it to New Zealand during here time in office from 1999 to 2008 but she never placed much credence in it.
“It’s a very, very long distance from South East Asia or South Asia to New Zealand, over very difficult seas so just the sheer logistics made it unlikely.”
She said allowing refugees into New Zealand was one the most satisfying aspects of her 27 years in Parliament.
“What made me proud of being a New Zealander was that people came to our shores with nothing... accepted as refugees and you saw incredible success stories. When I look at the people who came on the Tampa, I’m really proud of what they achieved and what their families achieved. There is a very good side to being a country that cares.”
3 News
source: newshub archive
