27 February 2009

RNZRSA Submission to the Law Commission

Last December we forwarded to the Law Commission our submission on the War Pensions Act re-write, but only in interim form. The timing of the Law Commission's "roadshow" and the complexity of the issues meant we had no opportunity to obtain the internal constitutional approvals that would be necessary before we went public.

But that has now been done. Since January our interim document has been under consideration by our Affiliates, by the large Steering Group we set up, and by the NEC. At its meeting on 23-24 February 2009, NEC approved it unanimously.

I am very pleased therefore to be able to publish the document. As it happens, there have been no major changes to the interim version, except that some points suggested by Messrs David Cox and Larry Boyle from the World War II contingent have been included; and a few other points of clarification have also been made.

This has been a challenging task. As the submission itself remarks, it has involved extensive consultations with welfare officers, Affiliates, the large Steering Group and others, over many months. The Law Commission's seminars at RSAs and within the Defence Force have also been vital. The issues are both wide and deep. Naturally, in the course of these consultations a very wide range of views has been expressed on a very wide range of topics. In not a few cases it was difficult to harmonize the results because, basically, the views of some clashed directly with the views of others. We thank those who sent us copies of individual submissions, but because they were submissions to the Law Commission not the RNZRSA, the snapshot we have of them is not necessarily complete.

An age-old risk appeared - try to please everybody but end up pleasing nobody. And so, decisions had to be taken knowing that they would not please everybody equally. Out of all this, therefore, what we have tried to do is express a representative view as accurately and constructively as possible. As the submission points out, it is particularly important that what we propose is achievable and is a good fit with the New Zealand support system, a major part of which is ACC. We also know that anything we might achieve rests wholly on public acceptance of our special position in society.

In that regard, on the one hand we had the Law Commission's view that those who have served do occupy a special place; and that those who have been damaged in harms' way should have the same entitlements as other citizens, plus something. On the other hand, if we stretched public sympathy too far, we would risk losing support altogether. This has been a difficult line to walk.

The RNZRSA submission attempts to present the best possible case. But it is not the end of the process. Indeed it is scarcely the beginning. Over coming months there will be ample opportunity to change, add to, or subtract from what is in our submission, and others, as the Law Commission works on turning what it has learned into new and better law. We look forward to the next stages alongside the Commission.

Robin Klitscher
NATIONAL PRESIDENT

Download the RNZRSA Submission:

RNZRSA Submission to the Law Commission
(215k PDF document)
Requires Acrobat Reader

RNZRSA Submission to the Law Commission
(215k PDF document)
Requires Acrobat Reader