2 October 2007

First Airman to head RNZRSA

	New National President Air Vice Marshal (Rtd) Robin Klitscher CBE, DFC, AFC, BSc.

Delegates to the 91st National Council Meeting of the Royal New Zealand Returned and Services’ Association have elected Air Vice Marshal (Rtd) Robin Klitscher CBE, DFC, AFC, BSc, RNZAF of Wellington to be the veterans’ organisation’s new National President. He replaces John Campbell (Dunedin) who has retired after holding the post for three years.

Robin Klitscher joined the RNZAF as a pilot in 1958. After converting to helicopters in mid-career, he spent twelve months (1970-71) on active service with No 9 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force flying Iroquois choppers based in Phuoc Tuy Province, South Viet Nam. During that year he flew 3,248 sorties clocking up 963 flying hours on operations.

In 1989, after many other operational and administrative postings he was appointed Deputy Chief of Defence Staff, in the rank of Air Vice-Marshal. Upon retiring from active duty in 1993 he was contracted to the post of Military Policy Adviser to the Chief of Defence Force until, in 1995, he moved to the Department of Internal Affairs as National Coordinator for commemorative activities marking the 50 years on from the end of World War II.

He is National President of the Royal New Zealand Air Force Association, and past Chairman of the National War Memorial Advisory Council. He has served on the National Executive Committee of the Royal New Zealand Returned and Services Association since 1997, and chairs its Defence Committee, Ceremonial, Protocol and Medallic Committee and RNZRSA Affiliates Forum. He is also a member of the official Joint Working Group (now the Joint Implementation Group) on the Concerns of Viet Nam Veterans and their Families.

Robin Klitscher says John Campbell’s stewardship as national president has given the RNZRSA movement new life and refreshed purpose and has rebuilt its influence.

“The organisation,” he says, “is nearly as large as it has ever been; is sharply re-focused on veterans in the community and related matters; and politicians and others listen to what it says.”

He says the task ahead is to consolidate that platform, and to build upon it.

“The world will change, however, and will not wait for the RNZRSA to catch up. So there will be challenges. The veterans’ cohort will continue to change shape, and we must continue to adapt.”

“There is also unfinished business,” he says. “The most obvious is the matter of Viet Nam veterans and their families. But we go wider than that. The Viet Nam veterans’ Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) must be examined for relevance to other veterans’ groups such as those affected by nuclear testing, and those who served in Korea or East Timor, or any number of other places in extraordinary conditions. In addition we must be concerned about future veterans who will serve in places not yet known; and also about the nature of the national policies that send them there.”

Robin Klitscher says, some of this, though not all, will be swept up in the fundamental changes now in train as a result of the Viet Nam MoU. “For example, the external review of Veterans’ Affairs New Zealand will affect – and will benefit – all veterans, not just Viet Nam veterans. So too for the overhaul and re-write of the War Pensions Act 1954 – in which, most importantly, we must retain the founding principle that gives the benefit of any doubt to the veteran. There is also the new Expert Panel, which will be key to assessing the effects of service in New Zealand terms as distinct from foreign terms.”

“Finally, we also know that to veterans of advancing years, or who are ill, six months can be an eternity. So these projects are not only important, they are urgent. We have much work to do, and we need to get on with it.”

For further information contact:

Bill Hopper
Public Relations Officer
RNZRSA
Phone: (04) 528 9557
Fax: (04) 528 2095
Email: billhopper@xtra.co.nz