Michael Ronaldson (Victoria, Liberal Party, Minister for Veterans’ Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

Do you want to hear the answer or not? The wall was an international memorial and not uniquely Australian. Defence consulted with the countries involved and the families of our fallen soldiers, and all agreed that respectful destruction was appropriate. There have been some queries raised, I gather, in relation to what steps Defence takes to preserve historically significant items. The ADF is working with the Australian War Memorial and other agencies to ensure items of historical significance are managed and returned to Australia. Significant work has been undertaken to develop a detailed electronic record of the memorial wall based on historians' advice. The decommissioning process for the wall was undertaken respectfully and involved disposing of parts of the memorial that were impractical or impossible to return to Australia. Can I just repeat for the honourable senator that there was full consultation by Defence with the countries involved. This was not an Australian memorial; this was an international memorial. (Time expired)