Fenton Darien: Veterans’ Support Bill — First ReadingText is subject to correctionFenton Darien: Veterans’ Support Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 22 October 2013. Volume:694;Page:14113. Text is subject to correction.]DARIEN FENTON (Labour): It is a pleasure to rise to speak in the first reading of the Veterans’ Support Bill and as my colleagues have said we will support the bill to the Social Services Committee with the aim of ensuring that all the recommendations from the Law Commission’s report are fulfilled. There is no doubt about it; the 1954 Act is outdated. That is why when we were in Government we commissioned the Law Commission to undertake a thorough review of the War Pensions Act 1954 which is the basis of this bill. Also as some of my colleagues have observed since 2006 when this process began a number of veterans have sadly passed away and we need to ensure that this bill is proceeded with quickly so that more veterans and their families do not miss out on what they deserve and what we owe them. The bill is long overdue and it is something that Labour was striving to deliver when we were in Government. That is because veterans hold a special place in New Zealand society and rightly so.Recently I visited Flanders with some other parliamentary colleagues and went toMessines and to the battlefields of Passchendaele where 2400 of our young men died in one day. I also stood at the Mennen Gate while the “Last Post” was blown. My colleague Tau Henare placed a wreath on behalf of the New Zealand Parliament. We also went to visit theMessines memorial and there is the most heartbreaking quote on that memorial about the New Zealand soldiers who came toMessines and died “from the uttermost ends of the Earth”. How heartbreaking is that? Last year I also visitedMessines with Mr Speaker and my colleague Melissa Lee. She will remember this because when we were inMessines a soldier from the First World War had been found and identified as a New Zealand soldier almost 100 years after the Battle ofMessines. They managed to narrow it down to six families but because there are no descendants of those families they have not been able to do a DNA test so that soldier is still unidentified. But Melissa Lee might like to know that when I was inMessines this time we visited a cemetery where that soldier has now been buried. They had a special ceremony for him and a proper recognition of his contribution. But the sad sad thing on his sad epitaph is “Known only unto God.”No one can visit Flanders and the battlefields of World War I or for that matter World War II and not be moved and at the same time horrified. In World War I there were 100444 deployments from New Zealand of whom 2688 wereMāori with 16697 killed in action and 41317 wounded. That is a 58 percent casualty rate for New Zealand at that time. We had only 1 million people in New Zealand so it is no wonder that these things touch us. But what I want to mention—because it is worth knowing as we are coming up to the anniversary of the First World War and there will be a lot happening in the next 4 years and certainly they are preparing for that in Flanders—is that this inspired me to go and look at my own history as many of us do. I have family who fought in both the First World War and the Second World War. It is worth letting people know that all of the records from the First World War are now on the database of the Auckland War Memorial Museum cenotaph. So you can look that up on the internet.I found some missing relatives. It was really sad to see a photo of a great-uncle of mine whom I never met obviously. He was a legend in our family. He was called Uncle Dan and everyone used to talk about how lovely he was. He went to war. He fought in Gallipoli was wounded and sent home and then died of the Spanish flu not long after that. When I looked it up on the database there was a photo of Uncle Dan. I had never seen his photo before. It brought him to life. He was a young man. He was just 20 years old. I want to encourage families and members to make use of thatwonderful resource that has been developed and is under way now with the Auckland War Memorial Museum the cenotaph database because it is our history. That is why this bill is so important and this is why I say that veterans hold a special place in New Zealand and rightly so.Of course it is our responsibility to protect the servicemen and women who have been put in harm’s way. They have been sent to defend our country and to meet our international obligations and they deserve both our respect and our gratitude but also our lasting memories. I think that in the next few years the centenary anniversary recognition will be a very very moving time for many New Zealanders. The other thing we did when we were inMessines was we went to visit the grave site of some of theMāori Battalion. The Hon Tau Henare who was with us actually recognised somewhānau. It is unbelievable stuff. So I understand Melissa Lee’s passion and emotion about that because the blood in the soil ofMessines of Flanders is our blood and you cannot help but recognise what an awful thing that war was what an unnecessary war it was how many people suffered and how many veterans came home and lived without the support of this type of legislation.As others have said the Veterans’ Support Bill gives effect to the recommendations of the Law Commission in its 2010 report which recommends a new support scheme for veterans of military service to replace the War Pensions Act 1954. As noted by many the 1954 Act has not changed significantly since its enactment and it does need to be replaced with modern legislation designed to deal with not only the physical risks associated with deployments but also the psychological and environmental risks that veterans face. I think that is a new understanding that has grown from more recent conflicts because I certainly know from most World War I veterans that the psychological impacts and the effect it had on their lives were never recognised. It was covered up in many instances. I think that is a very very important part of this bill. It also obviously updates accident compensation in accordance with the accident compensation scheme and continues the principles and decision-making presumptions of the 1954 Act which are in common with veterans support legislation in other countries.I wanted to just mention though that Sam Lotu-Iiga talked about the Ranfurly War Veterans Home opening recently. This is another important thing that I do not want to let go by in this debate. The Ranfurly War Veterans Home was established for veterans in 1904 and was run for years and years and years by the Patriotic and Canteen Funds Board and then the Ranfurly War Veterans Trust and it has just recently been sold to a developer. We have seen some stories in the news about the dissatisfaction of the veterans who are in that particular home. I do not want to comment particularly on that because I am not qualified to comment on that but what I do know is that the carers in that home had to fight to keep their pay when the home changed hands. I would want to put in a plea while we are talking about looking after our veterans that those who actually care for them in homes like Ranfurly are paid a living wage so that we recognise and honour our veterans by actually paying the carers properly. I know that the people who live in the Ranfurly War Veterans Home actually came out to support those workers.I support this bill. We look forward to the select committee but I end with that plea about a living wage. Thank you.