Refugees like our forebears: Clark

Former Prime Minister Helen Clark last night drew parallels between New Zealander settlers from humble beginnings in Britain and the thousands of boat people from Africa landing in Europe.

She made her comments during a flying visit to Wellington to launch a book of semi-fiction by her former chief spin-meister Mike Munro - a book based on a treacherous voyage taken by his great-great-grandfather from Scotland to Australia and then New Zealand in 1854.

"As I read the book, I realised it wasn't just Mike's story; it was my story; it was many people's family stories."

She said the departure of someone back then was treated like a death in the family because most came from humble beginnings to make a better life and never made it home. That was certainly the case for her own great-grandfather who arrived in Cromwell in the 1880s.

Asked if there were any parallels between those journeys and today's boat people she said: "If we put in the context of migration, people are on the move.

"Where migration is properly organised and legal that will be of benefit to the country receiving people and of benefit to the country which is sending them. But we see so much pressure now for migration which is propelled by war and conflict and just by plain poverty.

"And let's face it, a lot of our forebears left the United Kingdom because it was very difficult to get ahead so they saw an opportunity to go and start afresh somewhere else. That's pretty much the motivation that propels people ... to try the desperate journey across the Mediterranean."

One of the ways the situation could be ameliorated was with more legal migration, she said.

Europe was an ageing continent and needed to look to its workforce needs and like New Zealand has long accepted people coming from the Pacific, so there could be orderly ways of having migration into Europe.

There also needed to be a lot more investment in development in Africa itself.

"It's not just development assistance. It's also openness to trade. It is being prepared to put the investments in which will make a difference for people. If you address both those ends of the equation, you will see fewer desperate journeys."

Helen Clark travels extensively, including to Africa, in her role as Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme. Lifting the refugee quota beyond 750 in New Zealand would help the extra 250 or so people who would come, she said.

She was back for a regional World Humanitarian Summit hosted by New Zealand, Australia and the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs. She met Foreign Minister Murray McCully yesterday and will have a meeting tomorrow with Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop.

• Mike Munro's book, Road from Rosehall, is published by Ngaio Press.

Proud day for grandma

A grandmother of seven can finally fill in forms without her daughter's help, thanks to a volunteer literacy programme at the Auckland women's prison.

The 50-year-old, who left school at 14 and had her first child at 16, was presented with her literacy certificate yesterday by the head of the United Nations Development Programme, former Prime Minister Helen Clark.

As two of her grandchildren clutched at her legs, the woman said she was motivated to learn so she could help them with their homework when she becomes due for release in September.

"I didn't go to school much," she said. "I had good parents, I think it was just me, I didn't want to listen."

Her husband, who has been with her since she was 14, her daughter, son-in-law and three of her grandchildren were at the prison to hear her thank them and her volunteer tutor Julie France, 70, who spent two hours with her in one-on-one sessions for 12 weeks.

"When I was younger and married, I didn't know how to fill out forms. I had to get my daughter to fill out forms and tell me what do they mean."

Howard League for Penal Reform administrator Liz Street said the biggest need was for volunteers in South Auckland for the men's prison at Wiri and for the Spring Hill prison.

- Simon Collins