Vets to get commission for Agent Orange cases

Judith Collins

Prime Minister Helen Clark is expected to announce today the establishment of a commission to hear the cases of Vietnam veterans sprayed with the dangerous defoliant Agent Orange.

A spokesman for Helen Clark said she would "address the issue" in a Returned Services Association annual conference address in Wellington.

She is expected to say the commission will deal directly with veterans and consider their claims for compensation.

A parliamentary committee confirmed last year that soldiers serving in Vietnam had been sprayed with Agent Orange, after previous inquiries were either inconclusive or did not accept that it happened.

Some veterans claim they and their children have been seriously affected.

The Herald on Sunday quoted one of them, 61-year-old John Jennings, as saying he and his seven children and grandchildren suffered ailments such as blindness.

The Ex-Vietnam Services Association is waiting to hear details of any compensation.

National Party MP Judith Collins said decisive Government action was needed, not another report.

- NZPA