logo
Lest we forget? Aside from Anzac Day, NZ has been slow to remember its military veterans

Lest we forget? Aside from Anzac Day, NZ has been slow to remember its military veterans

NZ Herald23-04-2025

The Government will also establish a new national day of tribute for veterans. This falls somewhat short of a recommendation from the 2018 independent review of the Veterans' Support Act which stated the Government should accept it has a 'moral duty of care to veterans'.
But if adopted, this would create a missing ethical compass - all democracies should have to acknowledge responsibilities to those who risked everything in service of their country.
The same report also recommended better financial support for veterans, but so far the Government has been reluctant to review the adequacy of veterans' pensions.
None of this is particularly surprising, given NZ's history of sending people to fight and then rejecting their claims for recognition and compensation when the war is over.
Some of this may also come to light in the Waitangi Tribunal 's current Military Veterans Kaupapa Inquiry, with potentially strong evidence of discrimination against Māori service personnel in particular.
Sacrifice and compensation
When NZ gave out its first military pensions in 1866, only the victors of the NZ Wars received them. For Māori allies, equity was missing. Pro-Government Māori troops were eligible, but at a lower rate than Pākehā veterans.
It was only in 1903 that specialist facilities such as the Ranfurly war veterans' home in Auckland were created.
The initial treatments for those who suffered 'shell shock', especially in the World War I, were atrocious.
Their placement in mental institutions only ended after public outcry.
Some veterans of the NZ Wars were compensated by being granted confiscated Māori land. It wasn't until 1915 that a new system was formalised.
This provided farm settlement schemes and vocational training for World War I veterans. The balloted farmland was largely exclusionary as Māori veterans were assumed to have tribal land already available to them.
The rehabilitation of disabled service personnel dates back to the 1930s, before being formally legislated in 1941.
But the focus faded over the following decades, with the specific status of veterans blurring as they were lumped in with more generic welfare goals.
It took until 1964 for the Government to pay war pensions to those who served in Jayforce, the 12,000-strong NZ troops stationed in Japan as part of the postwar occupation from 1946 to 1948.
From atomic tests to Agent Orange
A decade later, more than 500 NZ navy personnel took part in Operation Grapple, the British hydrogen bomb tests near Kiribati in 1957–58.
Despite evidence of a variety of health problems – including cancer, premature death and deformities in children – it was not until 1990 that the Government extended coverage of benefits to veterans who had contracted some specific listed conditions.
It took another eight years before the Government broadened the evidence requirements and accepted service in Operation Grapple as an eligibility starting point for additional emergency pensions.
Last year, the United States declared a National Atomic Veterans' Day and made potentially significant compensation available. But neither NZ nor Britain even apologised for putting those personnel in harm's way so recklessly.
During the war in Vietnam, some of the 3,400 New Zealanders who served between 1963 and 1975 were exposed to 'Agent Orange', the notorious defoliant used by the US military.
Some of them and their children experienced related health problems and higher death rates. The Government did not accept there was a problem until 2006 and apologised in 2008.
Advertise with NZME.
Assistance and compensation were based on evidence of specific listed conditions. And although the list has expanded over time, the legal and medical burden of proving a link between exposure and an illness falls on the veteran.
This is the opposite of what should happen. If there is uncertainty about the medical condition of a veteran, such as a non-listed condition, it should be for the Crown to prove an illness or injury is not related to military service. This burden should not fall on the victim.
Lest we forget
Today, support for veterans remains limited. There is still a reluctance to systematically understand, study and respond to the long-term consequences of military service.
For many, service develops skills such as resilience, confidence and flexibility which are sought after in civilian life. For some, their experiences lead to lingering trauma and even self-harm or suicide.
While Britain and Australia can track the incidence of veteran self-harm, NZ lacks robust data. Beyond some early research, the prevalence of suicide in the veteran population is unknown.
Despite recommendations from the 2018 report that this data gap should be plugged, it means that when three self-inflicted deaths of veterans occurred within three weeks earlier this year, this couldn't be viewed within any overall pattern. This makes appropriate support and interventions harder to design.
This all points to the same problem. While we intone 'lest we forget' on April 25, a day later most of us are looking the other way.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

‘Trump Of The North' Will Not Seek Re-Election As Mayor
‘Trump Of The North' Will Not Seek Re-Election As Mayor

Scoop

time24 minutes ago

  • Scoop

‘Trump Of The North' Will Not Seek Re-Election As Mayor

Article – Susan Botting – Local Democracy Reporter A controversial Northland mayor will not be standing for a second mayoral term. In a shock move, Kaipara Mayor Craig Jepson on Tuesday confirmed he would not be standing for the $138,441-a-year position in the October local election. Mangawhai's Jepson (67) is instead backing Kaipara District Council (KDC) Deputy Mayor Jonathan Larsen (54). Jepson appointed Larsen to the deputy role in October 2022. And Jepson – who has referred to himself as the 'Trump of the North' – will be standing as a councillor in his Kaiwaka-Mangawhai ward. The position pays $68,719 annually. Jepson's about-turn comes after consistently indicating he will be standing for a second tilt at the Kaipara mayoralty. He would not be drawn on the reason for the tack change, other than to say he wanted to step down from the top job and spend more time on issues close to his heart as a councillor. Jepson's political move comes as first-term KDC councillor Ash Nayyar said for the first time that he would be taking a tilt at the top job. Dargaville's Nayyar believed too many KDC decisions were being made behind closed doors, and unnecessary pet projects were being adopted by the council. He said he was unhappy KDC, in his opinion, had generally ignored the voice of the people during public consultation. Nayyar claimed Kaipara's west had been neglected and as Mayor he would do all parts of the district justice. He has a Master of Business administration, Bachelors of Commerce and Law and 40 years' banking experience. Topuni's Larsen was first elected onto KDC in 2010. He resigned in protest in August 2012, just under two years into a three-year term. He said he left over his dissatisfaction with the council making closed-door decisions on the future of the controversial Mangawhai wastewater scheme, including $30 million in extra spending on the project. Larsen said he had brought this matter to the attention of the Auditor-General. government ministers and Ombudsman. The government appointed commissioners to run KDC in September 2012. Larsen was re-elected in 2016 and has been a KDC politician since. If successful in October, it would see him elected for a fifth term. He has a Bachelor Science, and an Executive Master of Business Administration with first class honours. Jepson's big calls as mayor In his first controversial move, Jepson canned karakia from council meetings in November 2022, just two months into the job. KDC later became the only council to can its Māori ward in August 2024 after government law changes – one of Jepson's proudest achievements, and one which was also backed by Larsen. Jepson said he was proud of his council's 'small' 8.2 percent rates rise for 2025/2026. He said another positive move was his council withdrawing from national councils' representative body Local Government New Zealand. The mayor said there were a range of issues he wanted to work on as a councillor. Getting rid of mangroves would be one of the major issues he wanted to invest in. 'I want to get rid of mangroves from our harbours, not just Mangawhai Harbour, but Kaipara Harbour and the whole of Northland,' Jepson said. Jepson said he also wanted to boost the fight against Auckland's Dome Valley landfill – which is just across the local political border in Auckland Council – and educate people about the merits of waste to energy technology. He has strongly campaigned for such a plant in Kaipara. Larsen and Jepson jointly conducted information visits to constituents around Kaipara on the plants. Meanwhile, Jepson has long-challenged current science backing climate change. KDC axed its Ruawai-based Northland climate change pilot midstream. KDC also got rid of its key climate change policy in 2023 in a move brought to the council table by Larsen. Larsen said that even if climate change was a reality, the actions of Kaipara's 18,000 ratepayers would not make a jot of difference in a world with 8 billion people. Jepson was elected with a big majority in 2022. Jepson said that many had encouraged him to stand again, to do a 'lap of victory', but being a local politician was not about ego. It was about what was best for the district.

Free Speech Union Warns Stalking And Harassment Bill Risks Abuse, Changes Make It Worse
Free Speech Union Warns Stalking And Harassment Bill Risks Abuse, Changes Make It Worse

Scoop

timean hour ago

  • Scoop

Free Speech Union Warns Stalking And Harassment Bill Risks Abuse, Changes Make It Worse

The Crimes Legislation (Stalking and Harassment) Amendment Bill suffers from the common fault of slogan laws with good intentions, without realism about the risks of misuse. The announced expansion of what is considered a 'specified act' goes in the wrong direction, says Stephen Franks, Council Member of the Free Speech Union. 'We've already seen the broad and vague terminology in the Harmful Digital Communications Act being used to silence legitimate dissent many times. This Bill is likely to be similarly abused. 'Truth should be a defense for 'damaging, or undermining [a person's] reputation, opportunities, or relationships'. That would save the centuries-long principle that protects the public interest in learning home truths about powerful people and wrongdoers. It is not enough to say the Bill lets you argue that truth is for a proper purpose. We know that courts have not held that telling the truth is presumptively a proper purpose. 'The broad definition of 'specified acts' as inducing fear or distress, combined with the low threshold for establishing a 'pattern of behaviour', already leaves wide scope for misuse against legitimate surveillance, and dissent. Likewise, the inclusion of 'contacting or communicating with a person' is vague and has the potential to be weaponised. 'By prioritising the term 'fear or distress' without a clear objective override, the Bill raises similar issues to 'hate speech' legislation. The law does not recognise that some people ought to be ashamed ('distressed') by exposure of their own conduct. 'The Government's decision to increase the timeframe for establishing a 'pattern of behaviour' from contact twice over 12 to 24 months also widens the net, making it more likely that isolated or infrequent expressions of dissent could be criminalised. 'We submitted our concerns in February, urging the Justice Select Committee to narrow their definitions, to clarify 'specified acts', and to provide better defences that would let the courts protect free speech. We call on the Minister of Justice to protect Kiwis' speech rights as well as victims of stalking and harassment.'

PM Must Stop Changes Further Failing Children
PM Must Stop Changes Further Failing Children

Scoop

timean hour ago

  • Scoop

PM Must Stop Changes Further Failing Children

Press Release – New Zealand Labour Party Christopher Luxon must step in and cancel boot camps and restore funding to frontline community providers before its too late, Labour childrens spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime said. Today's damning report on Oranga Tamariki shows Māori children are being left with little chance of success, or even survival, after their experiences in the state care system, and Minister for Children Karen Chhour is making it worse. 'This report is the first of its kind and reveals a disturbing and urgent problem which can no longer be ignored by the Prime Minister who has overseen dangerous changes to Oranga Tamariki during his term in government,' Labour children's spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime said. 'The Government has cut early intervention, continued with botched bootcamps that have never worked, and taken away funding from community-run services that help children and whānau. 'Christopher Luxon has allowed an ACT Minister to recklessly erode the services that have been built up to support children. 'As well as repealing Section 7AA, Karen Chhour has removed a key target for placement of children with whanau, and removed the target for investment for services provided by Iwi organisations. 'The Government has taken away actions specifically put in place to address the significant disparities for Māori children in care. 'Christopher Luxon must step in and cancel boot camps and restore funding to frontline community providers before it's too late,' Willow-Jean Prime said.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store