Face of the Day

There is an election year treasure chest of $3.2b that could tempt the government.

If they crack open that chest, it will come with a cheaper political cost than the $12b Equal Pay Amendment Act decision made prior to this year’s Budget.

It affects far fewer people.

But it is a very specific pool of cash – a treasure chest created as the legacy of lifelong soldier and public servant Sir Wira Gardiner before his death.

It was, he said before he died, a koha left for other military veterans.

And it’s a pool of cash that also shows the incredible power that can sometimes be found in the small cogs in the government machine.

Gardiner was killed by a brain tumour, as were a number of his generation who fought in the jungles of Vietnam.

Those jungles served as effective hiding places for their adversary. The Americans used a compound known as Agent Orange to kill the foliage and remove that cover.

Agent Orange sprayed on the jungle also covered those moving through that jungle, like Gardiner.

There has for some time been a link between Agent Orange and brain tumours of the sort that killed Gardiner.

It’s a link accepted in some jurisdictions but not – until recently – in New Zealand. It’s an odd quirk, given components for Agent Orange were manufactured in a factory in Taranaki.

As Gardiner lay dying, his old friend and comrade at arms Ross Himona came to visit. The two spoke and Himona – long a campaigner for veterans rights – urged him to lay a claim with Veterans’ Affairs that the condition was service-related.

As Himona explained to his old friend, the outcome was likely to be the test case he had been searching for. It would test the current law and how it is applied.

Himona could see Gardiner’s claim eventually winding up in court, succeeding and smashing away barriers that were stopping the claims of other veterans.

So Gardiner did make that claim. He knew when he did that he would not live to see its outcome. It was, Himona later said and Gardiner’s widow Hekia Parata endorsed, a claim that was a koha to other veterans.

It was a koha that the government now estimates will cost $3.2b in additional taxpayer money.

Himona’s uncanny foresight came to pass when Gardiner’s claim was rejected by Veterans’ Affairs, reviewed and rejected again then upheld by the Veterans’ Entitlements Appeal Board.

NZ Herald