War Pensions Amendment Bill (No 2)

Clause 2 is concerned with the commencement of this legislation, and provides that the Act comes into force on the day after the date on which it receives the royal assent. In supporting that particular provision, I would note that there has been a significantly delayed legislative history in respect of this bill, which does the Government no credit. The interests of war veterans are important. We have a situation here where the bill was introduced on 12 December 2001. It was read a first time on 2 May 2002 and referred to the Social Services Committee. It has taken all this time—and it is not a complicated bill—to come back to the Committee for this stage. That is lamentable. I support the commencement date, but do so in the context of significant delays by an uncaring Government.

Like my colleague, I note that this bill has been considerably delayed. It has taken a very long time to come through this House, and New Zealand First believes that this bill should commence as soon as possible.

Clause 2 agreed to.

Part 1 Amendments to principal Act