Bradford Sue: War Pensions Amendment Bill (No 2) — Second Reading 
Bradford Sue: War Pensions Amendment Bill (No 2) — Second Reading 
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SUE BRADFORD (Green) 
: 
 The Green Party welcomes the return of the War Pensions Amendment Bill (No 2) to the House although given the simplicity of the legislation and the evident and welcome support for it from all parties in the House it is a pity it has taken so long to resurface since its first reading in May 2002. As others have mentioned for the gentlemen and women concerned it has been a long wait. 
The Green Party supports the core goals of the bill the first of which separates veterans’ pensions from the Social Welfare (Transitional Provisions) Act and moves them over to the War Pensions Act as the basic legislation. We welcome the consolidation of the legislation into war pensions law as that recognises the desire of so many returned servicemen and women to have a special status separate from the bulk of social welfare beneficiaries. Along with my colleagues I understand that motivation completely because of the sacrifices they have all made. 
The second core aim of the bill is to allow veterans under retirement age who are eligible for the war pension to work albeit subject to the abatement regime that applies to all other working age beneficiaries. It is astonishing to me that that anomaly has taken so long to be tidied up. It was an injustice to the veterans and again it is why I am hoping this bill will be passed as soon as possible. 
I will speak briefly on a couple of other matters. When the bill first came into the House Margaret Wilson as Attorney-General provided a special report on it in relation to legal recognition for same-sex de facto couples. I know it seems strange to members that we have that report but this bill—like all other amendments to social security - related legislation—is caught up in this Government’s desire to create a situation where there is no discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation; that is whether a couple is gay or straight they should be treated the same way under law. That is a deep and controversial issue on which the Green Party has quite mixed feelings and we look forward to the day when it can be debated properly in the House. In dealing with this bill the select committee and the Government have basically glided over the Attorney-General’s report. I just wanted to say that we have not forgotten the issue and that it is a very real one that needs proper debate and consideration by all of us in the House. 
The second issue I wanted to raise is that one of the most moving submissions we received on the select committee was from a gentleman who had served on either the  
Otago 
 or the  
Canterbury 
 —I cannot remember which ship—during the French nuclear tests at Mururoa Atoll. He talked with us at length about his experiences at Mururoa. 
Richard Worth 
: It was the  
Otago 
. 
SUE BRADFORD 
: Thank you. Certainly I found his presentation very affecting and I could understand his desperation. The issue I had not been aware was that those servicemen had not been recognised in terms of declaring their tour of duty as an emergency either for the veterans’ pension or the war disablement pension. Again that seemed extremely strange. Since the committee heard that submission the Minister of Veterans’ Affairs has remedied the situation and declared that they are now eligible. I am sure that is a great relief to all of us who heard him speak. 
In conclusion the Green Party supports this bill and we look forward to seeing it enacted as soon as possible.