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McIlroy, Tom: Kerry Stokes guaranteed $500m War Memorial plan

Tom McIlroy

Kerry Stokes guaranteed $500m War Memorial plan‘, Australian Financial Review, 7 October 2019

(Pay-wall. Pdf copy made from open access version.)

Story based on FOI material provided to Heritage Guardians and Honest History.

Seven West chairman and Rich Lister Kerry Stokes gave a “personal guarantee” to the federal government that a half billion dollar upgrade to the Australian War Memorial would stay within its controversial budget …

Heritage Guardians spokesman David Stephens questioned why a personal guarantee from Mr Stokes was needed, unless there was concerns the budget could be “somewhat rubbery”.

“It’s unclear, though, whether the guarantee bound just Mr Stokes personally or Mr Stokes on behalf of the Memorial Council,” he said.

“As to the processes generally, the committee minutes give the strong impression that the funding of the project and the development of the detailed business case for it ran on separate tracks.

“The Department of Finance rules for such projects, on the other hand, strongly suggest there is a connection between the two processes.”