Kerre Woodham: Vets and elderly run out of luck

It is a national embarrassment that our vets have been treated as irrelevancies by this Government. Photo / John Borren

It's no wonder the Council of Trade Unions is sticking to its guns and demanding that the Government (read taxpayer) gives its members involved in the IHC care industry backpay for the years they have spent working overnight shifts.

First, it has the law on its side. The Employment Court then the Court of Appeal ruled that a $30 shift allowance for staying overnight was wrong and workers were entitled to the minimum hourly wage.

Second, who can blame any organisation for thinking that the Government has a bottomless pit of money to dole out to anyone who's had a raw deal? Look at the $1.2 billon bailout for those stung after investing in finance companies. Then there's the $1 billion package for leaky-home owners and the multi-billion-dollar Christchurch rebuild.

No wonder the union won't accept Health Minister Tony Ryall at his word when he thunders that the Government simply cannot afford to pay the couple of hundred million in backpay that the union wants.

The earthquake was an act of God that shattered the lives of hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders and it's only right that we all chip in for the rebuild. But once the Government opens its pockets to all those who've suffered misfortune, it sets a precedent.

I can only imagine the heartbreak for those people who have been affected by the leaky-home disaster. To be saddled with a home that is unlivable and unsaleable would be beyond a nightmare, but for the Government to label it a natural disaster seems convenient.

Surely the leaky homes debacle is an act of grievous systemic failure as opposed to an act of God?

And the finance companies' bailout is also extremely generous, given that people have long been ripped off by the venal.

We have been living in extraordinary times over the past few years, but it's no wonder organisations and individuals believe that any genuine grievance they have can be assuaged by the Government.

I'm just as bad. I want to see all the veterans who were made to pay their way to Crete for commemoration services given compensation from the Government and for all future trips to be funded by us, the taxpayers. It seems the very least we can do for these men. It's a national embarrassment that our vets have been treated as irrelevancies by this Government.

I figure that if there's money for home owners and investors there should be money there for vets. Maybe the blunt fact is that there's money for those the Government deems to be its constituency, but if you're a lowly paid caregiver or an elderly pensioner you're on your own.