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Veterans' Support Amendment Bill (Consistent) [2019] NZBORARp 16 (14 May 2019)

Last Updated: 31 May 2019

14 May 2019

LEGAL ADVICE

LPA 01 01 24

Hon David Parker, Attorney-General

Consistency with the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990: Veterans’ Support Amendment Bill

1. We have considered whether the Veterans’ Support Amendment Bill (‘the Bill’) is consistent with the rights and freedoms affirmed in the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 (‘the Bill of Rights Act’).
2. We have not yet received a final version of the Bill. This advice has been prepared in relation to the latest version of the Bill (PCO 22145/3.0). We will provide you with further advice if the final version includes amendments that affect the conclusions in this advice.
3. Part 4 (Scheme Two) of the Veterans’ Support Act 2014 (‘the Act’) provides entitlements to veterans whose injury or illness is caused by, contributed to by, or aggravated by qualifying operational service, and to their spouses, partners, children, and dependents. Under s 9(3) of the Act, the responsible Minister may declare a deployment to be operational service.
4. The Bill amends the Act to retrospectively validate declarations made under s 9(3) of the Act between 2015 and 2018 relating to deployments that began before the commencement of the Act (being 7 December 2014); and/or deployments that had ceased when the declaration was made. The Bill also enables the responsible Minister to, in future, make a declaration in respect of a deployment that has ceased, whether the deployment began before or after the commencement of the Act.
5. We have concluded that the Bill appears to be consistent with the rights and freedoms affirmed in the Bill of Rights Act.
   

Jeff Orr

Chief Legal Counsel Office of Legal Counsel