KEY POINTS:
Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia has cautioned that today's apology to veterans of the Vietnam War must not glorify war and she says that the people of Vietnam are owed an apology as well.
"Do we have the moral fibre to apologise to them too?"
Mrs Turia said there were good grounds for a heartfelt apology to New Zealand's Vietnam veterans and that the Maori Party supported an official apology.
But she said there should be a distinction between acknowledging the sacrifices made by the veterans and their families "and the Government insisting there was honour and glory involved in the Vietnam War".
New Zealand got involved through the Government's belief that New Zealand was helpless without American protection.
"The tragedy is that New Zealanders' lives, health and sanity were sacrificed to our Government's subservience to US interests."
She said the casualties among the ordinary people of Vietnam should be remembered, too, and they were owed an apology.
The apology will be delivered by Prime Minister Helen Clark to Vietnam veterans and will be different from the others that she has given.
Unlike the apology to the Chinese in New Zealand for the discriminatory laws and poll tax Chinese once faced and the apology to Samoa - both in 2002 - over historic injustices, today's will be given in Parliament and other political parties will speak.
It will be made on behalf of the Crown, which elevates it in importance over an apology given as head of the Government.
Such apologies, which are also made to iwi in Treaty of Waitangi settlements, are usually the culmination of a more consultative process with other parties.
The apology was negotiated in 2006 between the Crown and the Ex-Vietnam Services Association and the Royal New Zealand Returned Services Association.
Today's apology will:
* Acknowledge the service to New Zealand of all Vietnam veterans;
* Acknowledge the failure of the Crown in the past to address concerns raised by Vietnam veterans in relation to their exposure to a toxic environment;
* Reiterate Government policy about the treatment of Vietnam veterans;
* State the reservations held by the Government and veterans about the conclusions of the Reeves and McLeod reports on the health effects of Vietnam on veterans.
The apology is one part of a comprehensive package reached on the treatment of veterans and their families. It occurs ahead of a weekend of official events in Wellington, Tribute08, to mark the service of the Vietnam War veterans.
New Zealand has received formal apologies in recent times from France over the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior and from Israel over the attempts by its agents to fraudulently gain New Zealand identities.
Australia under the new Labour Government apologised to the Aboriginal people in February for the "stolen generation" of children who were taken from parents.
CLARK SAYS SORRY
HELEN CLARK - JUNE 3, 2002, APIA - APOLOGY TO SAMOA
There were also the shootings in Apia in December 1929 of non-violent protesters by New Zealand police. At least nine people died including Tupua Tamasese Lealofioaana III, and 50 were injured.
The early Colonial administration also banished Samoan leaders and stripped some of chiefly titles. These actions split families apart and many families lost their titles forever. On behalf of the New Zealand Government, I wish to offer today a formal apology to the people of Samoa for the injustices arising from New Zealand's administration of Samoa in its earlier years, and to express sorrow and regret for those injustices.
HELEN CLARK - FEBRUARY 12, 2002 - APOLOGY TO NEW ZEALAND CHINESE
I wish to announce today that the Government has decided to make a formal apology to those Chinese people who paid the poll tax and suffered other discrimination imposed by statute and to their descendants ...
Today we also express our sorrow and regret that such practices were once considered appropriate. While the Governments which passed these laws acted in a manner which was lawful at the time, their actions are seen by us today as unacceptable. We believe this act of reconciliation is required to ensure that full closure can be reached on this chapter in our nation's history.
