Welcome and rebuff for late decision

Service veterans are divided over a last-minute Government promise to follow the recommendations of an inquiry into health defects among their children.

The Government has waited until the eve of the election to accept recommendations made to it five months ago by a committee headed by former Governor-General Sir Paul Reeves.

A spokeswoman for the Vietnam Veterans' Association, Katrina Piggott, questioned the timing of the decision, but said it was a great breakthrough after years of procrastination by successive Governments.

But the Nuclear Test Veterans' Association said that the committee's report was based on flawed science, and the Government should not have given it credence by accepting its recommendations.

The committee recommended that sick children get case management and counselling.

But it said that it had found no convincing evidence that the children's ill-health was caused by their parents being exposed to chemicals or to nuclear radiation.