War Pensions Coverage

There has been an extension to War Pensions coverage and eligibility for burial in Service Cemeteries. The Hon Mark Burton, Minister of Veterans' Affairs has declared that a number of additional operational deployments are now to be considered as emergency service and that they will now be fully covered under the War Pensions Act 1954. All of them had previously been covered by that Act for routine service purposes only.

They are:-

• Service with the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) and United Nations India-Pakistan Observation Mission (UNIPOM) between January 1952 and 31 March 1974;
• Service with United Nations Truce Supervision Organisation (UNTSO), and its detachments being the United Nations Yemen Observer Mission (UNYOM), the United Nations Observation Group in Lebanon (UNOGIL) or the United Nations Operation in the Congo (UNOC) between July 1954 and 31 March 1974;
• Service on board HMNZS Otago and Canterbury during the French nuclear test at Mururoa Atoll on 22 and 28 July 1973.

Emergency service in Korea is now deemed to extend from 23 August 1950 - 27 July 1957.

Also the previous restrictions requiring that service in the Malayan Emergency, on the Thai/Malay Border and the Indonesian Confrontation had to be 'good front line service' and in an 'active combatant role' have now been removed.

Any ex-service personnel who served in these areas and times and consider that they have a disability attributable to that service should make application to the War Pensions (CPU) at Hamilton for a War Disablement Pension. In the first instance you should ring Hamilton at the freephone number 0800 553003 and ask for an application form. If you need assistance in completing the form and ensuring that all the relevant information and documentation has been gathered please contact the Welfare Officer at your local RSA.

Eligibility for burial in Services Cemeteries has also been extended to cover personnel who served in the deployments listed above.

So current declared wars and emergencies under the War pensions Act 1954 as at 12 June 2002 are as follows:-

*Note that the previous restrictions stating that service in the Malayan Emergency, on the Thai/Malay Border and the Indonesian Confrontation had to be "good front line service" and in an "active combatant role" have been removed.