Briefing to the Incoming Minister
- Introduction
- The Veteran Community
- Entitlements and Services
- Statutory Appointments
- Veterans' Affairs Portfolio
- Veterans' Affairs New Zealand
- The Ministry of Social Development
- Key Policy Issues
Introduction
The identification of veterans as a specific group within New Zealand society is an acknowledgement of the role veterans have played, and continue to play, in the development of New Zealand as a nation. It is on this basis that specific entitlements and services are provided to veterans as a group. The decline in the World War ll population has had the effect of moving the onus for the provision of entitlements and services from that of societal debt generated in a time of war, to government as an employer taking responsibility for the impact of its decisions on personnel. The veteran community is not homogeneous. There are a number of different groups of veterans with differing experiences and perspectives. As a consequence the response to the needs of veterans cannot be generic. The services that are in place need to be flexible so that they are able to be adapted to meet changing and as yet unidentified needs. The term veteran has, to the general public, come to mean a veteran of a specific conflict or location. The changing nature of deployments means that the term veteran is now becoming a generic descriptor for someone who has service in the Armed Forces in a variety of war and emergency contexts and locations.The changing demographic and experience of the veteran population brings a number of challenges and generates a need to ensure service delivery structures are responsive to the differing experiences of the veteran population as a whole. One point of contact for veterans services Cabinet has agreed to a proposal that will see the provision of services to veterans improved and made more efficient, Veterans' Affairs Minister, Rick Barker has announced.
- The Law Commission released its issues paper on the review of the War Pensions Act, entitled “Towards a New Veterans’ Entitlements Scheme: A Discussion paper on a Review of the War Pensions Act 1954”, on 31 July 2008. The paper raises issues and options for reform of the veterans’ entitlements system in New Zealand. The Law Commission welcomes any comments on submissions on the paper. The closing date for submissions is 28 November 2008.
- Report from Health Select Committee:
Inquiry into the exposure of New Zealand defence personnel to Agent Orange and other defoliant chemicals during the Vietnam War and any health effects of that exposure, and transcripts of evidence. Report from Health Select Committee [2Mb pdf]. - Print version of this report [1.1 Mb - pdf file - 34 pages] As files of this nature can be slow to open and may crash your browser, we recommend that you right mouse click on the link and choose ".. save target as.." from the context menu and save the file to your local drive.
This page was last reviewed
30 August, 2010
and is current.