However, there's this minor snag. The NZ Government is objecting to these 'cultural items' leaving NZ.
And that also opens up another bag of worms, Say Les attends the anniversary of something or other in the UK and he attempts to bring his medals out of country to wear at the event, can the NZ authorities prevent him from doing so on the grounds he may not bring them back?
You could argue that the NZ awards aside, the UK awarded medals are cultural to the RAF in which he was serving and the Country in which they were awarded by and on behalf of a grateful Nation.
End of the day the Medals were awarded to Les and as such they are his and the decision on how to dispose of them is his alone, fair do's if NZ decides to bid on them and match every other bid plus £1, but if not I cannot see why it is anything to do with them.
As the law appears to have come out in 2005 he imported them in good faith prioe ro this date one assumes, they now appear to have changed the law to people like Les then exporting them