3 September 2026
Veterans Advocate challenges
political parties to back independent review before
election.
The NZ Veterans Advocate is calling on all
political parties to commit to an independent review of the
Veterans’ Support Act 2014 and the wider veterans’
support system in the first year of the next
Parliament.
The call is the centrepiece of the
group’s newly released 2026 Election Priorities: A Fair,
Modern Veterans’ Support System, which sets out three core
commitments it wants parties to adopt.
The NZ Veterans
Advocate spokesperson Ross Himona, a veteran of Borneo and
Vietnam and long-standing veterans’ advocate, said the
case for review was now compelling.
“We do
not need another patch. We need an independent review of the
whole veterans’ support system. After more than a decade,
and after court decisions have exposed serious problems in
how the law has been interpreted, every political party
should be prepared to ask one simple question: is this
system still doing what Parliament intended and what
veterans deserve?”
The proposed review
would examine the Act itself, Veterans’ Affairs policy and
administration, the Scheme One and Scheme Two divide,
eligibility, access to support, modern service-related
health conditions, transition, whānau support, governance,
review and appeal mechanisms, and community service
delivery.
Himona said the issue was not abstract. He
was closely involved in supporting his friend, the late Tā
Wira Gardiner, in pursuing the case that ultimately
challenged significant aspects of Veterans’ Affairs’
interpretation of the Act.
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“Wira’s estate
had to fight for years to establish what the law actually
required. Veterans should not have to take the Crown to the
High Court to make the system apply its own legislation
correctly. That experience is one of the reasons I believe
the review can no longer be put off.”
The
High Court’s Gardiner decision confirmed the mandatory
nature of important statutory protections, while subsequent
analysis has identified multiple areas where VANZ policy may
have raised evidential thresholds, narrowed rights or
departed from the Act’s benevolent framework.
The
second election priority is a fair deal for those serving
now.
Today’s serving personnel are tomorrow’s
veterans. The NZ Veterans Advocate is asking parties to set
out clear policies on pay, the Military Factor, Defence
housing and accommodation standards, superannuation,
postings, family support, workforce retention and
transition.
The group says the Government’s Defence
Capability Plan commits $12 billion to rebuilding military
capability, but that investment ultimately depends on
recruiting, retaining and supporting the people required to
operate it.
Himona said:
“You can buy
ships, aircraft, vehicles and technology, but none of it is
capability until you have good people willing to serve, stay
and operate it. If we are serious about Defence, then we
also have to be serious about how we treat the people in
uniform.”
The third priority is military
honours and recognition.
The NZ Veterans Advocate is
asking parties whether the current honours system adequately
recognises distinguished military service and whether they
support reviewing the post-1996 arrangements, including
consideration of a distinct military division and tiered
military distinguished-service awards.
Himona
said:
“Recognition has to mean more than
remembrance. The honours system should properly reflect the
responsibilities, risks and exceptional service of those who
serve in uniform.”
The Election Priorities
paper also asks parties to state their positions on
eligibility, VANZ policy and the law, access to support,
modern presumptive conditions, governance and independence
of Veterans’ Affairs, transition standards, and support
for veterans and whānau.
Himona said the campaign was
deliberately non-partisan.
“We are not asking
veterans to support one party or another. We are asking
every party the same questions and asking them to give clear
answers before people vote.”
He said the obligation
to those who serve should sit above day-to-day
politics.
“Those who serve do so on behalf of the
country, not a political party. The obligation back to them
should be just as enduring.”
The NZ Veterans
Advocate is an independent, non-partisan group of
experienced veteran-support advisers, former senior
executives who are themselves veterans, and people with
practical experience of the Veterans’ Support Act 2014,
claims, reviews, appeals and frontline veteran
support.
