Mr CHESTER (Gippsland—Minister for Veterans and Defence Personnel and Deputy Leader of the House) (14:30): I do thank the shadow minister for his question. I assume, by his question, he is referring to the Productivity Commission report, which was presented to the government a matter of six or eight weeks ago and released to the public within about six days, I believe, quite appropriately. The Productivity Commission report had an extensive look at the Department of Veterans' Affairs. It took over a year to do. It was a report to the government, making in the order of 69 recommendations. As the shadow minister would be well aware, it's a very extensive report—purely by the size of the report, 930-odd pages—and has a large number of very significant reforms proposed by the Productivity Commission. The government has, appropriately, taken the time for further consultations with the ex-service community, in relation to which ones of those recommendations the ex-service community supports and which ones of those recommendations it doesn't support. Mr Burke interjecting— Mr CHESTER: I'll take the interjection. It would be inappropriate of the government to be ruling things in and ruling things out at this stage of the consideration of the Productivity Commission report. This government is proud of its record, in relation to looking after veterans and their families. We are committed to putting veterans and their families first. It's an area of public policy which has enjoyed enormous bipartisan support in the past and I would imagine so in the future. It would be inappropriate for the government to be ruling things out or ruling things in, at this stage, given the consultation which is occurring with the ex-service community around the nation. I notice another shadow minister is nodding his agreement with my comments. And the comments I make are in relation— Opposition members interjecting— Mr CHESTER: He was certainly nodding his agreement with my—what I would say, in relation to the question more broadly, is this is a government which is providing in excess of $11 billion per year to support 280,000 veterans and their families. We are working to make sure that veterans benefit enormously, into the future, in terms of any reforms we make. The Productivity Commission report, which is a report to the government, outlines a whole range of recommendations, and there is no intention whatsoever from this government to do anything which is detrimental to our veterans or their families. We are working with the ex-service community, as you'd expect a responsible government would do, and I'd encourage those opposite to also listen to the concerns of the veteran community and work with us as we continue to reform the Department of Veterans' Affairs. The Australian people can be very proud of the fact that their taxes, their taxpayers' dollars, go into supporting the men and women who put on the uniform and serve our nation, and then when they transition into civilian life they are well supported in a way which the Australian people can be very proud of.