Debate resumed from 15 May, on motion by Mr Griffin:

That this bill be now read a second time.

upon which Mrs Bronwyn Bishop moved by way of amendment:

That all words after “That” be omitted with a view to substituting the following words: “whilst not declining to the give the bill a second reading, the House:

(1)

notes that the bill creates a new category of memorial—namely a Military Memorial of National Significance;

(2)

notes that this new category of memorial, unlike ‘National Memorials’ under the National Memorials Ordinance 1928:

(a)

does not attract ongoing maintenance funding;

(b)

must not be located in the national capital; and

(c)

involves a decision of the Minister and the Prime Minister rather than the bi-partisan Canberra National Memorials Committee;

(3)

acknowledges as correct the stance of the previous Government that National Memorials, pursuant to the 1928 Ordinance, can only be located in the national capital; and

(4)

condemns the Government for:

(a)

playing politics with the veteran community;

(b)

claiming in the Budget Papers that it will declare the Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial in Ballarat a national memorial when it has not done so; and

(c)

misleading the veteran community by claiming to have met an election commitment to declare the Ballarat Memorial a national memorial, when the Government has failed to do so”.

See this item in context