Judith Collins National Party MP

17 February 2005

Collins: Stop bleating and start working for vets

New Zealand First MP Pita Paraone should stop bleating and put Vietnam veterans first, says National Party MP Judith Collins.

She is responding to Mr Paraone's statement that he finds her calls for an apology to Vietnam veterans 'obnoxious'.

"At the last moment possible, Mr Paraone sought to hijack the health select committee's inquiry into Agent Orange," says Ms Collins.

"The select committee sought to find the facts and made recommendations for the Government to respond to.

"Unfortunately, on the voting day, 15 September 2004, Mr Paraone tried to politicise the multi-party approach the committee had kept, and voted against the result of the inquiry.

This followed his own last-minute attempt to insert a minority view into the report.

"He thereby also voted against acceptance of the facts about Agent Orange, and against the debunking of the Reeves and McLeod reports.

"Vietnam veterans will not be well served by Mr Paraone's peevishness over such an important issue," says Ms Collins.

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