The following formal submission have been made public
Submitter: Richard GriffithsAnzac Hall and Glazed Link
I strongly oppose the proposal to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on damaging changes to the War Memorial site when:
the Australian Government has just decisively lost a 20 year war in Afghanistan, having caused widespread death and destruction, including alleged serious crimes against humanity by Australian servicemen;
other national institutions such as the National Gallery have been systematically underfunded for many years and play a demonstrably more constructive role in Australian national identity; and
funding has similarly been withheld from veterans of recent failed wars including those in Iraq and Afghanistan, who now suffer under the burden of mental illness and entirely unacceptable suicide rates.
The Australian Government's decision to waste public money in these circumstances will long stand as an international embarrassment.
However, I understand my opinion on these matters has not been sought, and so I refer to substantial objections regarding the current proposal's clear incompatibility with aspects of the National Capital Plan. These are as follows:
The proposal to expand the War Memorial into a war museum (Main Works Package 1, 2 and 3) contradicts 'respect for the key elements of the Griffins’ formally adopted plan for Canberra'. The Griffins were well-known pacifists and the Memorial was never intended to glorify war, but that is exactly what the new proposals to exhibit military equipment will achieve.
Alterations to the southern facade of the Memorial, shown in Main Works Package 1, will neither conserve nor enhance the significance of the Memorial site, a matter of significance under the National Capital Plan.
The proposed demolition of Anzac Hall (Main Works Package 3) will diminish the role of Canberra as the symbol of Australian national life and values – an important value in the National Capital Plan – since it is a perfectly usable building with significant artistic merit. It was deemed fit for purpose as recently as its opening in 2001. To demolish this building, so recently opened, is plainly a text-book example of unsustainable development, and a contradiction of the National Capital Plan's aspiration to safeguard 'the development of a city which both respects environmental values and reflects national concerns with the sustainability of Australia’s urban areas'.
The National Capital Plan aims to conserve and enhance 'landscape features which give the National Capital its character and setting, and which contribute to the integration of natural and urban environments'. The proposed destruction of 140 mature trees (required for Main Works Packages 1, 2 and 3) clearly contradicts this aim, as well as the aim of respecting environmental values and reflecting national concerns with the sustainability of Australia's urban areas.
If the proposed works are, therefore, to achieve compatibility with the National Capital Plan, the following amendments must be made:
Retain the southern facade of the Memorial.
Retain Anzac Hall.
Retain established trees.
If it cannot be amended to conform to the National Capital Plan, the proposal should be abandoned. For the reasons stated at the start of this submission, it should be abandoned anyway.
the Australian Government has just decisively lost a 20 year war in Afghanistan, having caused widespread death and destruction, including alleged serious crimes against humanity by Australian servicemen;
other national institutions such as the National Gallery have been systematically underfunded for many years and play a demonstrably more constructive role in Australian national identity; and
funding has similarly been withheld from veterans of recent failed wars including those in Iraq and Afghanistan, who now suffer under the burden of mental illness and entirely unacceptable suicide rates.
The Australian Government's decision to waste public money in these circumstances will long stand as an international embarrassment.
However, I understand my opinion on these matters has not been sought, and so I refer to substantial objections regarding the current proposal's clear incompatibility with aspects of the National Capital Plan. These are as follows:
The proposal to expand the War Memorial into a war museum (Main Works Package 1, 2 and 3) contradicts 'respect for the key elements of the Griffins’ formally adopted plan for Canberra'. The Griffins were well-known pacifists and the Memorial was never intended to glorify war, but that is exactly what the new proposals to exhibit military equipment will achieve.
Alterations to the southern facade of the Memorial, shown in Main Works Package 1, will neither conserve nor enhance the significance of the Memorial site, a matter of significance under the National Capital Plan.
The proposed demolition of Anzac Hall (Main Works Package 3) will diminish the role of Canberra as the symbol of Australian national life and values – an important value in the National Capital Plan – since it is a perfectly usable building with significant artistic merit. It was deemed fit for purpose as recently as its opening in 2001. To demolish this building, so recently opened, is plainly a text-book example of unsustainable development, and a contradiction of the National Capital Plan's aspiration to safeguard 'the development of a city which both respects environmental values and reflects national concerns with the sustainability of Australia’s urban areas'.
The National Capital Plan aims to conserve and enhance 'landscape features which give the National Capital its character and setting, and which contribute to the integration of natural and urban environments'. The proposed destruction of 140 mature trees (required for Main Works Packages 1, 2 and 3) clearly contradicts this aim, as well as the aim of respecting environmental values and reflecting national concerns with the sustainability of Australia's urban areas.
If the proposed works are, therefore, to achieve compatibility with the National Capital Plan, the following amendments must be made:
Retain the southern facade of the Memorial.
Retain Anzac Hall.
Retain established trees.
If it cannot be amended to conform to the National Capital Plan, the proposal should be abandoned. For the reasons stated at the start of this submission, it should be abandoned anyway.