Postponement of veterans' forum in Christchurch

Many of you will be aware that we have been working on our next veterans’ face-to-face forum, which we hoped to bring to Christchurch on 14 February 2022.

Your safety and that of your whānau and family remains our highest priority. There is an air of inevitability around an increase in the number of community cases of Omicron, a variant of COVID-19. We continually review our planning for all our events including a thorough risk assessment. In the current environment with Omicron on our doorstep, air travel is likely to be riskier and any large gatherings will definitely be of higher risk.

Our older veterans generally make up the majority of those who attend our forums and they are amongst the most vulnerable members of our community. We are on the precipice of, what experts predict to be, a critical time for New Zealand and we need to keep our most vulnerable safe.

We have taken the decision today to postpone the Christchurch veterans’ forum. We know many of you will be disappointed in this decision. We are committed to strengthening our work around virtual engagement so that we can remain connected with you and other members of our veteran community.

This is a time to remind all our veterans to please get vaccinated against COVID-19, and in particular, to get your vaccine booster when you are due for one.

These are uncertain times for now but it won’t always be, so hopefully you will understand the need for us to be cautious, to keep our veterans and their families safe, and for us to find other ways to remain connected with you.