Mark RonHon RON MARK (Minister for Veterans): Thank you Madam Speaker. Look I won't take a long call but I do want to stand and give some acknowledgment. I firstly want to acknowledge the work of my officials and those people who so studiously study legislation as a consequence of decisions that are reviewed based on requests or submissions put by veterans which in this case if I remember correctly it was Mr Ian Stobie who asked them questions. And through that questioning and through the consideration of his questions it became clear to some people that we had something of a problem with the legislation in 2014 that was passed by the previous Government.It was not an intended problem. Going back through the Cabinet papers going back through the discussion papers going back through the select committee phase it was always very very clear that what the previous Government had intended to do was give the Minister powers to review operational deployments with a view to ascertaining whether or not there were circumstances that warranted the changing of the designation of active deployment. To most people outside of the Chamber and who are not involved with veterans' affairs or the military they probably wouldn't understand what that means. When a deployment is declared as an operational deployment and given that status of recognition it immediately makes those individuals who deployed veterans with all of the benefits that being a veteran brings. It's not just the benefits or the services or the support that has accrued to the veteran that matters; it's that which is available to the veterans' family to the veterans' spouse partner husband or wife.When the case was brought to me it was put to me very clearly that the Crown Law opinion had re-confirmed that there was an error in the drafting and that 14 declarations that had been previously made were potentially illegal. That created a circumstance where there would be an argument that those benefits that had been accrued might have to be recovered—particularly where it was fiscal. Well that was a situation that was just simply untenable particularly considering that it was out of sync with what the previous Government had intended the Act to reflect.So two of those declarations were from myself; 12 of those declarations were from the Hon Craig Foss. It occurred to me when we looked at the legislation that we needed to move with speed. In order to be able to move with speed it was obvious that I needed to have conversations with all of the former Ministers for veterans' affairs. I want to thank the Hon Nathan Guy the Hon David Bennett the Hon Michael Woodhouse and the Hon Judith Collins. The only one who I think wasn't in the room was the Hon Craig Foss because of course he's not a member of Parliament any longer. All of those former National Party Ministers of veterans' affairs came to the office. We had a conversation.Hon Nathan Guy: Yeah we did. It was a good chat.Hon RON MARK: Yeah it was a good chat and thank you Mr Nathan Guy. It was a good conversation. I'm very thankful to all of those members—and I had a conversation with the Hon Gerry Brownlee later on on the phone who rang just to see how the whole thing had gone and to give me his views.It didn't end there because I had conversations with the Green Party and then my people had a conversation—I think one of my team caught up—with David Seymour's staff. I was very pleased and grateful that every one of those political parties agreed with me that we needed to progress this bill swiftly.I want to thank the Social Services and Community Committee for their work for their diligence. I want to thank the Business Committee the whips and the Leader of the House and shadow Leader of the House for agreeing that this matter needed to be dealt with urgently. So here we are today and inshallah we'll move straight through the third reading very quickly and we will have resolved the problem collectively as a House in the interests of the veterans and their families.Operational deployments are difficult we all know that and I know that there's not a member in this House who doesn't recognise that and value that. I only have to travel around the RSAs. Recently I was at Te Awamutu and—oh my gosh. I'm embarrassed now because I've forgotten—Louise—?Hon Members: The Hon Louise Upston.Hon RON MARK: The Hon Louise Upston was there with me and we commemorated Victor 3's anniversary.There have been many other occasions where I've stood alongside of the Hon Megan Woods in Christchurch recently on Anzac Day. There is not in my view an MP in the House who does not support our veterans and does not believe that they are deserving of the recognition for the service that they have done their country. That's the way it should be because every day we sit in this Chamber—no matter what we are discussing no matter what our philosophical and our political views are—we are surrounded by reminders on the walls: El Alamein Crete Fortress Europe North Africa Sidi Rezegh Battle of Britain Atlantic Greece. All of these names—Vietnam Afghanistan down that corner—are there for a purpose. They are there to remind us who it is we have to thank for our freedom for our liberty and for the democracy that we enjoy and hold so dear.So for everybody who supports our veterans—and I do specifically want to mention Melissa Lee. I have always been astonished by the Korean community's support to our Korean veterans—even when I was not in Parliament and I was simply attending the Papanui RSA on Anzac Day as one of my five RSAs that I would visit. The Korean community support for those Korean veterans—and one of them was my uncle Billy—was astonishing in its generosity. It always has been and it's only got better and more generous as the years have gone by and numbers have dwindled. It doesn't matter whether it's in the community at the Papanui RSA or up here in Wellington or even when I meet with the ambassador or visiting dignitaries they never forget—they never forget. That's the only thing that veterans and their families ask really.Madam Speaker I have used all my time it would appear and I had not intended doing that but I could not let this moment go without letting the House know how grateful I am for the unanimous support of the House and the way in which all political parties have rallied to the cause and supported. With respect to the Hon Alfred Ngaro's questions around future considerations of deployments as soon as this legislation's through and passed its third reading and receives its assent then all of those reviews that are currently frozen will continue and that'll be a good thing. I have no doubt that as the research is done and more evidence is revealed there will be some positives. They won't all be positives in the eyes of some people but that's just the way it is. But none of that would be possible without what's happening here tonight. So on that basis I simply want to say kia ora koutou. Thank you very much. It's very much appreciated. If I might be so bold and take the liberty to thank you on behalf of all veterans for the support and the honour you've done them collectively here this evening. Thank you.