Darren Chester (Gippsland, National Party, Shadow Minister for Veterans’ Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) acknowledges:

(a) the Australian War Memorial (AWM) was built to recognise the service and sacrifice of Australian Defence Force (ADF) personnel following the Great War;

(b) the role of the AWM has grown to encompass all ADF service including major conflicts, peacekeeping missions, humanitarian aid and disaster relief;

(c) the AWM combines a shrine, a world-class museum, and an extensive archive; and

(d) its mission is leading remembrance and understanding of Australia's wartime experience;

(2) notes that:

(a) the former Government committed to a major redevelopment of the AWM with early construction work commencing in 2020 and scheduled for completion in 2028; and

(b) the key reason for the former Government funding the redevelopment of the AWM was to provide additional exhibition space to tell the stories of contemporary service in the ADF in a timely and appropriate manner; and

(3) urges the Government to ensure the independent AWM Council remains true to its mission without political interference.

I regard the Australian War Memorial as the most important building in our nation because it lies at the heart of our commitment to remember the 103,000 service personnel who have died wearing the uniform of our Army, Navy and Air Force. It reminds us that the freedoms we enjoy today came at an extraordinarily heavy price. Those who were killed, those who were physically wounded, those who never recovered from the mental scars and the families who supported them in their service are the ones who paid the price for our freedoms, and we must never forget that sacrifice.

It was conceived by historian Charles Bean, who witnessed the bloody battles in Gallipoli and the Western Front during World War I, and the memorial took 12 years to build from 1929 to 1941. Bean's guiding philosophy is captured in this quote from 1948:

Here is their spirit, in the heart of the land they loved; and here we guard the record which they themselves made.

Those words ring true today and explain why the redevelopment of the Australian War Memorial was essential. We are simply adding to Bean's extraordinary legacy. The memorial's purpose is to commemorate the sacrifice of those Australians who have died in war or in operational service and those who have served our nation in times of conflict. Its mission is leading remembrance and understanding of Australia's wartime experience.

The key reason for the coalition funding the redevelopment of the Australian War Memorial, while we were in government, was to tell the stories of contemporary service in the Australian Defence Force in a timely and appropriate manner. Over the past 30 years, more than 100,000 Australians have served in war, conflict and peacekeeping missions. Today, their stories remain largely untold. The Australian War Memorial redevelopment is modernising and expanding the galleries and the stories we tell of Australian service and sacrifice. For the first time, the memorial will have displays dedicated to Australia's efforts to prevent war and to contribute to peace. So, in commending the project, which is due for completion in 2028, I completely reject the critics who claim the memorial is glorifying war or that the money could be better spent on our veterans.

Let's be very clear about this. The $550 million is a lot of money, and I know the director, Matt Anderson, and the council are determined to deliver on the project within the budget and with due respect for taxpayers' dollars, but not a cent is coming from the Department of Veterans' Affairs budget. As veterans minister at the time when the decision was made to proceed with the development, an agreement was reached with Treasury for new funding to be allocated from outside DVA.

During the eight years of construction involving this $550 million, the DVA will spend somewhere around $100 billion on supporting our veterans and their families. It is contemporary veterans and their families who are among some of the strongest supporters of this redevelopment. They want to be able to walk through the expanded Australian War Memorial with their own children and explain their story of service to our nation and not only the service of their parents or grandparents or great grandparents. As the minister of the day, I agreed with memorial's board members that there was a need to increase the size of the exhibition space in order to place more items on display and better tell the stories of our more recent missions. It is part of the healing process for our veterans and their families who have been impacted by military service that their contemporary stories can be told in a meaningful way, and the expanded memorial will allow that to happen in the very near future.

It's interesting that Australians seem to want to learn more about our military history, as evidenced by the raw numbers. According to TripAdvisor, the memorial is the No. 1 visitor attraction in Canberra, and the war memorial is a top rated war memorial in the world. That's a credit to the council, the director and the staff, who do an incredible job to support visitors and respectfully commemorate our military history—most notably, I'd say, by the last post ceremony every evening.

I have had the opportunity to go behind the scenes and inspect the redevelopment along with the recently opened sections of the war memorial. This is a national endeavour that Australians can be proud of, and I'm pleased to see the current government is continuing with the project. The coalition will always ensure the Australian War Memorial is properly resourced to fill its critical role of respectful remembrance and commemoration. The redevelopment of the Australian War Memorial is a bold endeavour of inter-generational significance, and it helps to sustain the eternal promise that we will remember them. Lest we forget.

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