The Paterson Report
The Paterson review made 64 recommendations on how to improve support for veterans. You can follow our progress in implementing these recommendations.
About the report
Professor Ron Paterson was appointed in June 2017 to lead a review of the operation of the Veterans’ Support Act 2014.
The Paterson review made 64 recommendations. Veterans' Affairs has split these recommendations into three groups:
- actioned
- underway
- medium-term improvements programme – post 2020.
The latest update
Summary of progress on the Paterson Report recommendations — March 2021
A total of 51 of the 64 Paterson recommendations are now been actioned and categorised as “closed”. Actions taken have included changes to policy and practice in Veterans’ Affairs and changes also to the Veterans’ Support Act 2014.
In some cases, a decision was made not to proceed with the recommendations, or to achieve the desired result by different means. Nine of the recommendations are still open, or under action. Four have been deferred for potential future consideration.
Previous updates
Summary of Progress on the Paterson Report recommendations — May 2020
The recommendations do not provide neat prescriptions for changes to legislation, policies, or practice. Recommendations can be addressed in more than one proposal. A high level summary of the current status of all recommendations is as follows:
Actioned
Of the 64 recommendations, 23 have been actioned through more flexible use of policy and practice, or ongoing implementation is well advanced. For two of those recommendations (23 and 57), a decision was taken not to proceed.
Underway
A group of 23 recommendations that required further policy work and/or legislative amendment are being progressed in the Veterans’ Support Amendment Bill No 2.
Medium-Term Improvements programme – post 2020
There are 18 recommendations which have been deferred for consideration in a Medium-Term Improvements Programme that will begin in 2020 once the Short-Term Improvements Programme has been completed. These recommendations involve:
- changes that might arise as a result of Veterans’ Advisory Board recommendations
- changes relating to statutory boards
- changes that might arise as a result of reviews taking place in other areas (including mental health, health and disabilities, ACC, New Zealand Superannuation, and social security)
- changes to streamline and simplify the Act
- work to develop a veteran advocacy role for Veterans’ Affairs
- streamlining the process for adopting Australian Statements of Principles.