Nick McKenzie of Nine Newspapers has received some leaked papers from staff at the Australian War Memorial. He writes it up here (paywall). There is also an article from Sarah Ison in today’s Australian (also paywall), which does not use the leaked material but claims to be ‘Exclusive’.
The leaked files from the Memorial disclose:
- Memorial Director Anderson advised a senior curator in May 2023 to consult Memorial Council member, James McMahon, ‘on how (or even if) the Memorial presents the story of war crimes allegations’. McMahon was a former SAS commanding officer and was also at the time an employee of Kerry Stokes, whose company was funding Roberts-Smith’s defamation case;
- the small size and restricted coverage of the proposed exhibit on the Roberts-Smith case;
- Memorial staff concern that the Memorial should make clear that the great majority of Australians in Afghanistan served honourably;
- Memorial staff concern about public relations aspects of how the Memorial dealt with the case;
- Memorial staff awareness of the need ‘for a strategy “when members [of the war memorial council] object” to the proposed Afghanistan war crimes display’;*
- Director Anderson’s awareness of the sensitive issues involved;
- from a June 2024 staff attitudes survey, Memorial staff dissatisfaction at perceived interference from Memorial Council members in the work of staff;*
- from the same survey, Memorial staff dissatisfaction at working conditions and workloads.
The article concludes with quotes from journalist Chris Masters, public interest lawyer Kieran Pender, and Honest History’s David Stephens.
What happened after the Memorial’s internal discussions in 2023? In September 2023, Honest History said this:
Media reports late last week (ABC; Canberra Times; Guardian Australia) noted that the Australian War Memorial has added a carefully-worded, not to say mealy-mouthed, explanatory panel next to some exhibits on Ben Roberts-Smith VC. It has also removed from display paintings depicting Roberts-Smith. This is on the stated grounds that the area displaying these works has been closed off as part of the redevelopment project.
Honest History, like many Australians, has been tracking the Roberts-Smith saga for years.
*By the way, how many Council members have objected to the Memorial’s faffing about and prevarication on coverage of the Australian (Frontier) Wars? For more on that, go to our sister site, defendingcountry.au and particularly this post: ‘New light and New Tricks: the Australian War Memorial and the Frontier Wars September 2022 to September 2023’ (updated 14 July 2024), which shows prevarication in fact comes from the top.
21 December 2024
