I don't know how you could have something that could give genuine assurance that didn't have legal standing, because at the end of the day you need to have the ability to go somewhere to a third-party adjudicator and insist on your rights and have your rights respected and enforced. There is no middle ground, apart from the one I just suggested, which is more of a public debate. Maybe that could be done in addition to the legislation. These aren't mutually exclusive. There could be two regimes that are available, so that the government is accountable to the House in terms of this bill of rights and the department is accountable to the individual veteran by virtue of this act of Parliament affirming these rights and providing a regime for a third party, like an ombudsman or a board or a court, to intervene on behalf of the veteran to enforce those rights where they're not being respected.
On March 29th, 2007. See this statement in context.