Winston Peters says the focus needs to be on Kiwis struggling at home, when asked about New Zealand's refugee quota by reporters today.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs is currently attending the Pacific Islands Forum in Nauru, which is home to an Australian refugee detention centre containing more than 900 people.

New Zealand has had its offer to re-home 150 of these refugees turned down.

Mr Peters was asked if would press the issue while at the forum on human rights grounds.

"We have a refugee quota and we've taken on more economic refugees than most countries on earth over the last 20 years.

"We have 50,000 people who are homeless back home and I can show you parts of Northland where people are living in degradation.

"We have to help fix their lives up as well before we start taking on new obligations of the level that some people would like such as calling for a ten or 20-fold increase in refugee numbers without any concern as to how they might be housed and employed.

"Let alone considering the people in New Zealand who are in desperate need of those things right now," Mr Peters said.

The forum leaders have other weighty issues to work through and despite their differences of opinion and policy they also have much in common.

A big security agreement, the Boe Declaration, is to be signed where forum countries are pledging to work together to counter growing threats to the region. They include climate change, transnational crime and cyber security.