‘Costly expansion of Australia’s war memorial stirs controversy‘, Nikkei Asia, 12 September 2021
A multimillion-dollar plan to upgrade Australia’s national war memorial in Canberra is pushing ahead, despite critics’ claims that the project is more focused on exhibiting military hardware than preserving the site as a place for solemn commemoration.
The controversy comes as Australia grapples with the chaotic end to its 20-year military involvement in Afghanistan, and as polling suggests a public preference for the funds behind the memorial’s expansion to be spent on health or other services as the country tries to counter the COVID-19 pandemic.
The article contains extensive quotes from Heritage Guardians Brendon Kelson and Sue Wareham and from Shannon Battisson, president-elect of the Australian Institute of Architects. A Memorial spokesperson is also quoted.
Nikkei Asia is one of Asia’s, and the world’s, largest circulation business journals.
