N.Z. inquiry into Agent Orange refused
PA Wellington The Government gave the cold shoulder yesterday to a Labour call for an inquiry to examine health problems and award “appropriate” pensions to New Zealand’s Vietnam veterans who were exposed to the defoliant, Agent Orange.
Mr G. B. Braybrooke, the member of Parliament for Napier, had called for an inquiry after seven United States chemical firms agreed to set up a SUSIBO million (?274 million) trust fund to settle thousands of claims by veterans from the United States, Australia, and New Zealand. But the Minister of Defence, Mr Thomson, said the Government did not consider that a full study of Vietnam veterans in New Zealand could produce any “meaningful results.” Overseas investigations were more likely to produce more conclusive results because of the larger number of veterans involved, he said. Mr Thomson, who is also Minister in charge of War Pensions, said that the settlement in New York imposed no obligation on the New Zealand Government. “Servicemen disabled in Vietnam have the full pro-
tection of the New Zealand war pensions legislation,” said Mr Thomson. A disablement pension was paid when the War Pensions Board was satisfied that a disability arose out of service in Vietnam. “The cause is not a fac-
tor,” Mr Thomson said. Mr Braybrooke, Labour’s spokesman on pensions and rehabilitation, said the settlement was a clear admission that the chemical had caused considerable physical and mental harm for veterans. “Their suffering has been ignored for over a decade. Agent Orange is guilty as hell.” Mr Braybrooke said the Government now had no excuse for stalling on the issue. “A Commission of Inquiry should be set up immediately so that New Zealand Vietnam veterans can be examined by doctors and scientists and decisions made on appropriate pensions for those who have been exposed to Agent Orange.” Mr Thomson said the War Pensions Board had already awarded 323 pensions to Vietnam veterans. Other reports, pages 8, 10
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Press, 9 May 1984, Page 1
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327N.Z. inquiry into Agent Orange refused Press, 9 May 1984, Page 1
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