Davidson MaramaMARAMA DAVIDSON (Co-Leader—Green): Thank you Madam Speaker. I'm really pleased and proud to be able to stand in the House tonight and support the Veterans' Support Amendment Bill (No 2). It's about manaaki. It's about care of our people who have afforded this country their service. But it's also about whakapapa. It's actually recognising that the care doesn't just stop at that one particular person. And it also doesn't just stop at that one particular generation of any generation who have served. This bill is about recognising—and the proposed changes through this updated amendment bill recognise even better—that the trauma and the harm while it was faced perhaps physically by one person impacts over generations as well. And some of those proposed changes come through very clearly.My colleagues have spoken remarkably well of course on the content of the first reading of this bill and I also too support the first reading of the bill and just wanted to dive a little bit more into the review and into Professor Ron Paterson's review and the report that began in June 2017—and it was into the operation of the original Veterans' Support Act 2014. I wanted to acknowledge the work that was done behind getting this amendment bill to this House because it's really important how it sets up the changes that came through. It was to check whether the Veterans' Support Act 2014 was working as well as it should be and was working in the way it was set up to work. The original was of course the War Pensions Act 1954 which then became the Veterans' Support Act 2014. And the purpose of the new 2014 Act was to make sure how we're providing rehabilitation and support to veterans who have been injured or become ill as a result of being placed in harm's way in service. And so Professor Paterson of course travelled the country and sought submissions which are the stories from around the country.I actually was going to ask—what came to mind reading through this bill—if the Hon Ron Mark had ever come across the fantastic novel written by our hallowed writer Patricia Grace called Tu. It talks about exactly what this bill is trying to address. It talks about particularly the mental and spiritual wellbeing of not just the person the individual but how it impacted across the community and actually impacted across generations. It came to mind and I hope that you either have a copy or we'd better get you one.Hon Ron Mark: She's my cousin.MARAMA DAVIDSON: You've got one. In reading through this bill tonight—of course the member does. Of course the Minister has a copy.Hon Ron Mark: I'm a Grace.MARAMA DAVIDSON: Of course. So the terms of reference for that and the sorts of areas considered in the report to bring this bill to pass were looking at where more clarity is needed. Well this is what has come through in the proposed changes. We're looking at where the needs of veterans could be better met. That also has come through in these changes. And also wanted to look at whether the new Act was flexible enough and an example of that is modernising the definition of the term child". Whānau can mean all sorts of things. So I was really pleased in particular to pick up on that change that came through in the areas that were considered. Is it flexible? Can it evolve to meet the purposes? Is it fit for purpose as the context changes?I did want to mention that it was overseen I understand by Vice Chief of Defence Force Air Vice-Marshal Kevin Short. And in tonight's speeches I did hear the Hon Michael Woodhouse refer to—yeah in this very Chamber—the fact that we've got all the plaques acknowledging the various conflicts. But the most recent one was actually the New Zealand Wars plaque that we only—gosh was that last year? It was only last year that we all woke up really early and had a wonderful opening to add the New Zealand Wars plaque just behind me. It got me thinking about how I hope we can through the passing of this bill ensure that we are talking about how to take care of all of the conflicts that our people of this nation have been involved with.I did want to pull out in particular—so there's a 15th change that was not itself part of the Paterson report I believe but it is proposed for inclusion in the bill and it would allow the Minister to declare deployments qualifying operational service. I'm pleased to affirm that the intention of the change is simply to ensure that all veterans who qualify for entitlements are able to receive them. That was an assurance that I thought was important—so even in cases where their service cannot be publicly recognised for security reasons. And I do think the Minister may have referred to that somewhat in his initial speech tonight.So I thought those were some of the main points that I wanted to pick up in my speech tonight. As I said at the beginning this is about veteran wellbeing but it's about whānau and community wellbeing which is why the proposed changes do things like extend service access to families and extend the children's bursary. It's about understanding the impact is on us as a nation in fact and never just left with that one individual person who gave so much. The wellbeing impacts are felt across communities and felt across generations and so I'm very pleased to see this bill come to the House. I congratulate the Hon Ron Mark and I am very pleased that we are showing some manaaki and care for veterans. Thank you."