The Context
The identification of veterans as a specific group within New Zealand society is an acknowledgement of the role veterans have played, and continue to play, in developing New Zealand as a nation.
Services have been provided to the veteran community by a variety of other agencies for a number of years. The delivery of those services was often not co-ordinated, as individual agencies often felt ‘ownership’ of individual elements of service delivery. In order to provide a co-ordinated approach and maximise the services available, Veterans' Affairs New Zealand has been given the role of liaison with the veteran community and co-ordination of the delivery of appropriate services. Over the period of this SOI work will be undertaken to strengthen the role of Veterans’ Affairs New Zealand and improve the level and quality of service delivery.
The Environment
The Global Environment
New Zealand exists within a global social and technological environment. This environment shapes the experience of veterans and challenges the way the New Zealand Government and New Zealand society responds to the experiences of veterans.
The role of New Zealand as an international citizen has evolved, and as a consequence, the role the military plays in support of the government’s foreign policy direction has evolved and ranges from warrior to peacemaker and peacekeeper.
The New Zealand Environment
There is no parallel social service framework for the provision of health and social assistance for veterans in New Zealand. The services and entitlements provided to veterans are, in the main, provided through the publicly funded health and disability systems and social assistance framework.
Treaty of Waitangi
The Treaty of Waitangi defines government’s relationship with and responsibilities to Maori.
The Veteran Community
The term veteran has, in the public eye, come to mean a veteran of a specific conflict or location. The changing nature of deployments means that the term veteran is now becoming a generic descriptor for someone who has service in the armed forces in a variety of operational environments.
Demographic
The veteran population ranges in age from 19 year old veterans of current deployments, to the remaining World War ll veterans who range in age from early 80’s to 100.
The demographic of the veteran population is changing. Within the next 5 years it is predicted that there will be a significant decline in the World War ll veteran population. This will lead to a significant change in the veteran demographic with the largest group being veterans of deployments that have taken place within the last 10 years.
In addition, the New Zealand population is becoming more ethnically diverse with higher proportions of the New Zealand community identifying themselves as being of Maori, Asian or Pacific Island descent. This change in the population will have an impact on the ethnic composition of the veteran community.
The role of women in uniform has changed from traditional support roles to being able to take part in the full range of trades within the Defence Force including deployment in combat roles. This change in role will have an impact on women’s experience of war and the impact of that experience.
Health & Wellbeing
Health and wellbeing is a critical issue for the veteran population. As all the long term impacts of deployments are unknown, veterans have ongoing concerns about the long term impact of their service on their health and the health and wellbeing of their families.
Veterans of different wars and emergencies face different barriers to their and health wellbeing. The changing face of deployments has meant that the psychological effects and environmental impacts of deployments have a greater impact on health and wellbeing than physical injuries.
The strategic intent is to ensure that the way service delivery is structured enables the care of veterans to be tailored to meet the diverse needs of the variety of veteran groups at the various stages of their lives. This could be achieved by making the service delivery model more veteran centred, taking a more proactive approach and shifting the focus from paying for disabilities, to promoting long term wellbeing.
Experience of war can isolate veterans within society, where the general population might feel empathy for the consequences of a veteran’s service at an individual level; they may have no appreciation or understanding of the veteran’s experience. This is likely to become more of an issue as the World War ll generation disappears and the numbers of veterans in the community is significantly reduced.
The Operating Environment
Veterans' Affairs New Zealand does not own the services it delivers. Veterans' Affairs New Zealand is accountable for ensuring delivery and acts as a broker, facilitating the relationship between the service provider and the veteran.
The traditional focus for services has been on providing War Disablement Pensions and medical care for veterans with defined physical and psychological disabilities arising from a specific deployment. These have been delivered through traditional programme based structures designed for men and their dependent families. The variety of types of deployments, the evolving shape of the family and the changed role of women in the Services requires a change to the premise on which these systems are based.
The War Pensions Act 1954 is the primary piece of legislation. The legislation needs to be revised and replaced with a piece of legislation that reflects the modern environment. While this is occurring, the current legislation needs to be managed in a way that ensures that veterans are not disadvantaged in any way as a result of the limitations of the legislation.
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