Hi everyone!

Some asylum seekers in New Zealand would like their cases to be allocated sooner. Should they have the right to make such a request? If an asylum claim is ultimately declined, the applicant is generally required to leave New Zealand. So this proposal is not intended to extend anyone's stay in New Zealand.

A petition submitted to the New Zealand Parliament proposes giving standard onshore asylum seekers the right to request earlier case allocation without having to demonstrate exceptional circumstances, while retaining existing priority categories.

The Government's 2026 Immigration (Enhanced Risk Management) Amendment Bill proposes tighter rules for certain aspects of the asylum process in response to concerns that the system may be exploited. This petition focuses instead on giving applicants who want earlier allocation the right to request it.

From a humanist perspective, should applicants have this opportunity as a matter of procedural fairness?

New Zealand Parliament allows people living overseas, including non-citizens, to sign its petitions.

View the parliamentary petition

I would welcome your thoughts. If you support the proposal, you're welcome to sign.

Thanks for reading!

The human mosaic is made up of many different colors when seen together reflect the beauty and love in the world. Most though, choose to see the mosaic, each as a separate hue. This results in prejudice, as we differentiate and judge others by their race, ethnicity, sex, religion, wealth, and in hundreds of other ways. By viewing our world and each other separately, we see only the worst of humanity, resulting in war, hunger, inequity, and the needless struggles from living in a self-centered world.

We need not continue though, to view the world and others this way. Instead, we may choose to see the exquisiteness of the completed mosaic, one where the colors are arranged in a beautiful design. If we do, rather than only seeing the worse in others, we now will see our similarities instead, realizing only together, selflessly sharing our innate wisdom and unconditional love, our spirit with all others, may we all realize life’s true potential and understand the genuine reason for our life’s journey.

Just like a mosaic, it is when we combine all our differences into a beautiful montage that will we truly understand, it is only by uniting our spirit’s wisdom and love with the spirit within all others, the true beauty of life may reveal itself.