Labour will support veterans

The New Zealand Labour Party has announced that if it forms Government after the September election, it will expand support for veterans. I think this is good move and I look forward to seeing it implemented.

Under Labour, “the Veterans Pension [will] be extended to all former veterans who have served offshore in a zone of conflict.” This is an important change because the current bill before Parliament sets the whole-person impairment threshold (at which a veteran would become eligible for a Veterans’ Pension) at 52 percent.

Labour says the policy will cost “just over $11million in 2014/15 declining to $8.4million in 2017/18”. The costs will continue to decline “and will not rise again for several decades when veterans who have served in Bosnia, Timor Leste, Solomon Islands and Afghanistan reach retirement age.”

I’ve always felt that those who serve their country in a zone of conflict deserve special rewards in recognition of their service. Labour’s policy will ensure that all such eligible veterans receive a War Pension, which seems to me to be the right thing to do.

This is good policy, and just one more reason I’ll be to voting Labour in the election September 20.