Mark RonVETERANS' SUPPORT AMENDMENT BILLFirst ReadingHon RON MARK (Minister for Veterans): I move That the Veterans' Support Amendment Bill be now read a first time. I nominate the Social Services and Community Committee to consider the bill. At the appropriate time I will move that the bill be reported to the House by 12 June 2019 and that the committee have authority to meet at any time while the House is sitting (except during oral questions) during any evening on a day on which there has been a sitting of the House and on a Friday in a week in which there has been a sitting of the House and outside the Wellington area despite Standing Orders 191 193 and 194(1)(b) and (c). The bill which has come before the House today is designed to put right a drafting error in section 9 of the Veterans' Support Act 2014. It's important to do this quickly so that New Zealand veterans can have certainty about their entitlements and so that the agency which administers entitlements for our veterans Veterans' Affairs can continue to work to make sure that all eligible veterans will receive what they should be receiving. Our veterans legislation changed in 2014. Until that date it was governed by an Act which first became law quite some time ago—indeed back in 1954—and it was known as the War Pensions Act. The 2014 legislation changed the criteria which determined whether a veteran who has served New Zealand can receive support and services and if they have been injured or made ill as a result of their service for their country. Those criteria now are a lot broader in range than they were in 1954. They cover a wider range of different threats both operational and environmental. The old legislation only covered service in war or emergencies.Section 9 of the Act authorises the responsible Minister to declare deployments that meet those specified criteria to be qualifying operational service and this entitles veterans to services and support from Veterans' Affairs. We know from the documents associated at the time with developing this legislation that the intention of the 2014 Act was that these declarations of qualifying operational service could be made at any time before during or after deployments and that's how it has been interpreted ever since the 2014 Act was passed.As a result since 2015 a number of deployments which hadn't met the previous criteria have been reassessed and this has been done to make sure that all who served in high-risk deployments were treated equally and consistently and appropriately. It has now become clear however that section 9 does not explicitly authorise the Minister to make retrospective declarations—that is to say declarations about deployments that have already ceased or those that started before the new Act came into force. This omission a drafting error needs to be put right.A total of 14 retrospective declarations have been made since 2015. These cover multiple missions and geographical areas. They affect approximately 675 veterans and their spouses and family members including families of service personnel who were killed in action. If action is not taken to put right the drafting error in the Act the entitlements to veterans that resulted from these 14 declarations could be in jeopardy. Until this error is fixed the work of Veterans' Affairs to look again at previous deployments that may be eligible for a declaration has had to be put on hold.Veterans' Affairs are currently reassessing 39 deployments in three geographical areas. This work could result in declarations that would extend entitlements to around 1600 veterans. There are further deployments that are also due to be examined and these are also likely to create entitlements for more veterans who aren't currently covered by legislation. The bill which is now before the House is designed to make legal the retrospective declarations which have already been made in good faith by the previous Minister the Hon Craig Foss and myself. These amendments will give the responsible Minister authority to make such declarations in the future and this will ensure that all those who serve New Zealand in situations where they were put at risk of serious harm are treated equitably and appropriately given the risks they faced. Thank you.