Memorial Rorts: how the Australian War Memorial expansion was rammed through despite public opposition

“Drape ‘Anzac’ over an argument and, like a magic cloak, the argument is sacrosanct,” wrote historian Peter Cochrane in 2015.

Critics of the $498 million Australian War Memorial expansion fear being seen as disrespecting dead Diggers while proponents know that their emotive euphemisms (“sacrificed” rather than “killed”) and their point-stretching (“the Memorial is a sacred site”) will hit home.

The Anzac cloak has helped ensure that appearances at Senate Estimates by War Memorial staff have often been advertising opportunities drenched in emotion, particularly when Dr Brendan Nelson, former leader of the Liberal Party, was the director.

The Memorial project has passed through four stages of “accountability”, none…