War Pensions Amendment Bill (No 2)

Part 1 contains the substantive provisions, although of course it is not the only part. The primary changes that have been introduced by this bill are well set out in the contents section. I would have wished that this particular part might have gone much further, because there are a number of issues that war veterans would wish to see included in legislation of this type, not the least of which is the introduction of something that was important and credible National Party policy at the time of the last election. I refer to the introduction of a veterans’ gold card, which the war veterans’ community has sought now for a significant period of time. The current position of the Government, which is that it is simply not prepared to acknowledge such concerns, is a great shame.

Like my colleague from National, we believe that this part does contain the greater part of the bill. Its provisions are well set out in the contents. We believe, too, that this part meets the veteran community’s desire for its entitlements to be viewed separately from the wider social security system. We know that veterans are a very important group in our society, to whom all of us here in Parliament and all New Zealanders owe a huge debt, and we need to remember our returned service personnel. New Zealand First will definitely be supporting this part of the bill.

The CHAIRPERSON (Hon Clem Simich): There is a financial veto certificate in respect of the amendment from Barbara Stewart.

The question was put that the amendments set out on Supplementary Order Paper 53 in the name of the Hon George Hawkins to Part 1 be agreed to.

Amendments agreed to, and Part 1 as amended agreed to.

Part 2 Miscellaneous provisions