Flavell Te Ururoa: Veterans’ Support Bill — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeFlavell Te Ururoa: Veterans’ Support Bill — In Committee[Sitting date: 22 July 2014. Volume:700;Page:19314. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]TE URUROA FLAVELL (Co-Leader—Māori Party):Tēnā tātau katoa i tēnei rā otirā i tēnei wiki Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori. Hei tīmatanga kōrero māku me whaiwhai haere au i te kōrero a te Hōnore Phil Goff. Ko te ngākau otirā ki ngā whakaaro o te Pāti Māori e mea ana me tautoko i tēnei hunga i haere ki te pakanga ki te tohe mō te painga o tēnei whenua. Arā anō ngā tohu kei ngā pakitara o tēnei Whare Pāremata. Ko ētahi kua haere ki te mura o te ahi ko ētahi i hoki mai ko ētahi kāre i hoki mai. Ko te hunga i hoki mai ko ētahi i hoki māuiui mai ā nō reira me tautoko ka tika. Ēngari i roto i tēnei Whare arā anō ngā uauatanga i ētahi wā mō te āhuatanga o tēnei mea o te pōti. Nō reira kua riro māku tēnei wāhanga o te Pāti Māori e whakamārama ake ā i tēnei pō.[Greetings to us all today and indeed in this the week of the Māori language. As a means of beginning my address I will follow the tenor of the sentiments expressed by the Hon Phil Goff. The heart and indeed the thoughts of the Māori Party is saying that we must support this group who went to war and who were persistent for the benefit of this country. There are other symbols on the walls of this House of Parliament that reflect this. Some went to the battle front some returned and some did not. Of those who came back some were sick and so it is only right that they be supported. But in this House there are other difficulties at times relating to the manner of this voting thing. So this aspect of the Māori Party will be left for me to explain carefully this evening.]Mr Chairperson I wish to take a couple of calls I hope at your behest to be able to explain the Māori Party position in respect of the Veterans’ Support Bill. As I said in Māori there is no doubt in our minds that it is appropriate to support those who put their lives on the line for our country and do the best that we can.In our caucus we had some vigorous debate in respect of the Hon Phil Goff’s amendment and Supplementary Order Paper 441. It was very vigorous because of course we are talking about people’s lives servicemen’s lives and indeed I suppose what happens to them after they pass away as well. In that regard we were in a position to be able to support this bill to be able to allow it so that veterans could in fact gain while we are in Parliament. Who knows what happens after the end of this election. We were of the view that it was far better to make some gains now than not to allow this bill to move through the various readings. We chose accordingly to enter into negotiations with the Government and the Minister of Veterans’ Affairs over points that we believed would advance the bill in its original form to something that we believed would have far bigger coverage.So in the time that I have got I want to outline some of those gains. There are about eight of them or so that I want to put on the record of this House. Firstly the removal of the 52 percent disability criterion which used to be 70 percent means that from our perspective a greater number of veterans will receive the pension.From our perspective currently around 6800 veterans receive it and we say that this will increase according to the information that we have by about 16700 to 25300 veterans. That is 6000 now going to 25000. We suggest that is a major and significant gain a far wider spread to bring in a far greater catch of those who put their lives on the line. That is the first point.The second point is that a greater number of veterans will have formal recognition that they are war veterans receiving a war veterans pension. This has been a point of contention for them and under the amendments—at least the negotiations we had—they will have that recognition.The third point is that the veterans pension is paid at the same rate as superannuation and is increased annually in line with this and veterans will automatically get the community services card which is currently income tested. Income testing will no longer be applied so therefore again that is a major benefit from our perspective.The fourth point is that veterans have protection for long-term hospital stays after 13 weeks. Currently the pension is reduced to $40 after 13 weeks in hospital. Fifthly we are also asking for a review of the Act—and I think this comes to the heart of Mr Goff’s discussion—and associated levels of support to be written into the bill and this has been agreed to. The period of time we are talking about is to allow it to run for 2 years and then have a review to assess the points that the Hon Phil Goff has made and indeed how the bill is going.As the sixth point Veterans Affairs New Zealand is proposing to rewrite its standard operation procedures to direct case managers to proactively advise families of recently deceased veterans of their existence advice and eligibility requirements and assistance to apply for the Ministry of Social Development funeral grant which is up to about $2000. Although this is currently available the uptake by veterans from our understanding has been relatively minimal. Personally I think that this should be a standard operating practice anyway but there we are.These changes will come into effect on 1 October 2014—obviously not far away—and therefore veterans will be able to take up the benefits of the changes and amendments in the bill. We are seeking on top of that formal recognition for the Malaya Afghan and Syrian veterans and their service and will be progressing this through the Hon Jonathan Coleman’s office.Just to wrap up currently veterans will be eligible for a lump-sum payment on death although the 52 percent impairment criterion is applied. However under the review we will aim to have this removed. If the Māori Party did not support this bill—and here is the point—we would suggest that over 1600 veterans would miss out on the ability to receive a pension and the other gains that we have previously mentioned. We saw this simply as an opportunity that could be not missed out. We did in fact have at the very heart of our submissions and our thoughts the many veterans who are hanging out on taking up the opportunities that come from this bill and indeed to ensure that we captured as many people as possible into the net to allow them to access the benefits that come from this bill.Under those circumstances although this is the path that you have already outlined and my discussion has been to cover a fair part of the bill these are the reasons that we as the Māori Party are supportive of the bill. We are pleased with the amendments that we have been able to negotiate with the Minister such that it will in fact go exactly the way we want.Sure there is always more to be done—there is always more to be done—there is always more that can be offered up but the 2-year review period would allow for that to be assessed at the time. In the meantime as of 1 October as I said the benefits will be able to roll out to those veterans who will be hanging out on these sorts of amendments. Ka nui te mihi.