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The Government will invest an extra $5.6 million in operating spending over the next four years to help newly arrived quota refugees during their first 12 months in New Zealand, Immigration Minister Michael Woodhouse says.

All quota refugees spend their first six weeks at the Mangere Refugee Resettlement Centre, before being resettled in five regions throughout New Zealand: Auckland, Waikato, Manawatu, Wellington and Nelson.

The Government is spending more than $7 million over the next four years to boost the number of labour inspectors and immigration officers dealing with the Canterbury rebuild.

The money will be used to fund an additional six labour inspectors and seven immigration staff, including three compliance officers and two investigators, and will result in an extra 20 investigations of serious or high-profile cases over an initial 18-month period.

It will also deliver an employment standards audit programme for businesses associated with rebuild activity.