The Waitangi Tribunal says it has set a final filing date of 23 September 2016 for the filing of new claims and amended claims seeking to participate in Wai 2500 - Military Veterans Kaupapa Inquiry.

The deadline for filing is 12.00pm.

A Kaupapa Inquiry constitutes the hearing of claims concerning a nationally significant issue that affects Māori as a whole or a section of  Māori across Aotearoa/New Zealand in similar ways.

The Military Veterans Kaupapa Inquiry will hear all claims involving past military service undertaken directly for or on behalf of the Crown in right of New Zealand, or in earlier colonial times, for or on behalf of the imperial Crown in New Zealand. 

This will extend to all types of military service, whether in times of war or peace, and whether at home or abroad. It will include the military service itself and the rehabilitation and remediation of service-related impacts on ex-servicemen and women and their whanau.

The inquiry commenced in December 2014 and five oral evidence hearings have since been held in Gisborne, Hawke's Bay, Whakatane, Northland and Christchurch. A final oral evidence hearing is set to be held in Waiouru from 26-28 October 2016.