Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

In all sincerity, what we are trying to do here is improve the process for veterans. What we are trying to do here is ensure that resolution of issues for veterans can be done in a less adversarial fashion, at least in the first instance, so that most issues, hopefully, can be resolved in a more informal setting through the Veterans' Review Board. Some issues will not be able to be resolved that way, and that is why the avenue for appeal to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal remains there, of course. But instead of having, right up front, an adversarial, formal, legalistic, confrontational process in the way that you describe it, what we are seeking to do here is improve the experience for veterans, improve the capacity to get satisfactory outcomes in a more efficient way, and the way we are doing it responds directly to relevant recommendations made by the 2011 Review of military compensation arrangements, and takes on board the feedback that we have received through our own consultations and the feedback that we have received as a result of the inquiry by the Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee. As a parliament, I think we have done everything we possibly can do to ensure that this measure is in the best possible shape, and I genuinely believe that what we are doing here, if we pass this, is doing the right thing by our veterans. I very much commend this measure to the Senate.