SpeechVETERANS' SUPPORT AMENDMENT BILL (NO 2)Second ReadingHon RON MARK (Minister of Defence): I move That the Veterans' Support Amendment Bill (No 2) be now read a second time. When I spoke to the House on 27 May during the first reading of this bill I was confident that what we were proposing would have the full support of the House and I have to say I've been very pleased that we do so at this point now. I do particularly want to thank the members of the Opposition who sat on the Social Services and Community Committee and who worked in a shortened time frame as we had requested to enable us to get this legislation passed through all stages prior to the House dissolving on 6 August. It is very pleasing at this point in time to be here now undertaking that very task. I want to acknowledge all parties in the House for the way in which they have come together in support of our veterans. As a veteran myself—and I do want to acknowledge members on the Opposition who themselves have served—it is one of those things where over time we have seen veterans and their families sadly not supported in a way that the nation clearly would expect them to be. Over time in history—and it is not worth going into too much detail on that now—there have been numerous cases numerous deployments that have been a challenge to the people of New Zealand politically and have caused different parties to take different stances. What pleases me here in 2020 as we look forward to dissolving the House and going into the elections is that probably for the first time that I can recall we have total unanimity and total respect throughout the House. It does not escape me that every day while we sit here in this Chamber exercising democracy exercising the will of the people that we are served with reminders on the walls around us as to the price that was paid to give the nation this freedom this liberty that it enjoys.The Veterans' Support Amendment Bill (No 2) is the product of the work done by Professor Ron Paterson and on the back of the review of the Veterans' Support Act 2014 which cemented into it a post-implementation review. That post-implementation review was undertaken by Professor Ron Paterson. He came up with a raft of recommendations as to how the legislation should be improved. It is absolutely—well I'm very very grateful that the Government has supported those amendments and that now the whole of the House is about to do so as well. These amendments will—just to remind everybody—improve access to services for veterans. They will improve support for veterans' families. They will improve the support available for veterans and their families at the end of a veteran's life. They remove provisions of the Act which have been or have the potential to be unfair to veterans who have loyally served New Zealand. Of course there are matters that still sit outside that we weren't able to address at this point in time but I am hopeful that in the next term of Government those matters in particular around the definition of a veteran will be taken up by a very brave Government and I look forward to the support of the whole of the House as we move that legislation boldly forward as well. I just close by saying to the House to the select committee I'm indebted to you. We are grateful to you for the work you've done and for the support that you are giving.