The following formal submission have been made public
Submitter: JAG GroupNew Southern Entrance
This submission is being presented on behalf of the Josephite Action Group (JAG), a ministry of the Congregations of the Sisters of St Joseph. We make this submission from the perspective of the Josephite Youth. With the Sisters of St Joseph, we serve, advocate and work for justice, for earth and for people, and especially for those pushed to the margins of our world.
JAG opposes unhesitatingly the excessive re-development of the Australian War Memorial. There has not been proper national debate about it, it will do little to improve veterans’ lives, and it will further glorify war. We believe that the War Memorial should be a place of reflection and commemoration, not a showcase for major donors – the arms dealers.
DEBATE
Australians are experiencing an unnecessary expansion of the national war memorial foisted on them without a proper national debate. Submissions are not adequate for this task. Instead, the Australian War Memorial Act should be properly debated, including in the Parliament, as occurred before the 1980 Act came into force. There were earlier submissions in 2020, most of which opposed the re-development. Two former heads of the Memorial, former ambassadors, several ex-departmental secretaries, 82 historians, former diplomats, public servants, academics, journalists and curators opposed it, arguing in almost 600 submissions against the redevelopment of the Memorial. It is extraordinary that the plans have gone ahead in the face of so many well-founded and expert arguments against the proposal put forward by proponents of the plan.
VETERANS
The number of suicides among returned service personnel and the prevalence of PTSD in veterans indicates that it is the people who served the nation in war who should be the recipients of as much financial recompense as possible. To spend $500 million on redevelopment, when it could be focussed on the health of veterans is a waste of money. Some of our young people have witnessed the suffering of returned relatives, and heard of family stories of grief and pain.
Any “therapeutic role” provided by the Memorial would be minimal, relative to the suffering of veterans. Visits to the Memorial – or the knowledge that it exists – are unlikely to save lives or dispel depression.
Furthermore, the Memorial is a place for all Australians, not just for the Armed Services and Veterans. As young Australians, we are compelled to propose that the Memorial be retained as a place of sensitive remembrance, not a glorification of war and elevation of the justice of armed conflict.
A SHOWCASE for ARMS TRADERS
As young Australians, many of whom who were once honoured to visit the War Memorial in Canberra, we reject the talks of the proposed renovations to the Australian War Memorial. We believe that its present goal as an architectural symbol of remembrance of the courageous veterans who died at war should remain as such. This commemorative symbol should not be defiled with muscle weaponry and machinery overtly put on display to serve the economic interests of arms traders. At the very core of this memorial is the gratitude for the grief suffered in war. Revising its structural design, especially at such exorbitant cost, would simply detract from the solemnity and sacrifice made by these veterans.
National Capital Plan (NCP)
The young members of the Josephite Action Group do not think that the National Capital Plan (NCP) is well served by this re-development planning.
In its Principles for Objective one – Urban design and heritage, the NCP requires that “Substantial works of architecture, engineering and landscape within the Territory should be designed to contribute positively to the overall composition, symbolism and dignity of the National Capital.”
We argue that this re-development will not positively add to the pride of the National Capital, but rather will redefine the commemorative site into a landscape potent with hidden economic and political agendas. This new plan will not fulfil the stated objective for dignified urban design. Rather, it will minimise the human element and replace it with mass machinery engineered to signify hostility and ruthless combat. The Federal Government’s masking of this project as the revitalising of “the soul of the nation” neglects to mention the real desires of the Australian youth for the core meaning of this symbolic site and our aspirations of what we long for it to represent. Change if good when it comes with a set of progressive and positive reforms. In this case, however, the proposed change is destroying the simplicity of the Anzac Spirit, and the reality of war.
CONCLUSION
If a war memorial is defined as a “focus for the memory” should the lasting memory of war be about the symbolic lives of firearms and machinery? Is this the indelible mark we want to echo into the hearts and minds of our young students who take educational excursions to Canberra? Or do we showcase the human, who laid down his life for the greater good.
Young Josephite Australians feel that the $500 million dollars allocated to the re-development of the Australian War Memorial is an unnecessary infrastructure expansion project as it not only takes away funds from the deserving affected veterans and eager youth wanting to learn more, but also takes away from the social messaging historically and physically grounded in this site.
The veterans have fought their fight for long enough, therefore the Josephite Youth are impassioned to stand up for peace and equitable fund allotment to worthy recipients. This large sum should be placed into the education of children about Australian history that encapsulates human sacrifice and distributed to veterans stricken by PTSD and permanent psychological and physical trauma.
If Australia exists within a liberal democratic framework, we must uphold values of equity, democratic discussion and peace above all. The proper checks and balances have not been exercised by Australia’s bureaucratic structures prior to the beginning of this project. Consultation and heritage process have been ignored and the swift acceleration of this process suggests the public opinion and democratic debate will be override by the capitalist interests of the state government. The Josephite Youth want an Australian War Memorial that represents reverence, simplicity and the valour of human sacrifice, not the idolisation of soulless machinery that rationalises war.
We must be heard on this debate on the basis of our liberal thought and demand that war will not be glorified now or for years to come.
Joelle Sassine
10 September 2021
JAG opposes unhesitatingly the excessive re-development of the Australian War Memorial. There has not been proper national debate about it, it will do little to improve veterans’ lives, and it will further glorify war. We believe that the War Memorial should be a place of reflection and commemoration, not a showcase for major donors – the arms dealers.
DEBATE
Australians are experiencing an unnecessary expansion of the national war memorial foisted on them without a proper national debate. Submissions are not adequate for this task. Instead, the Australian War Memorial Act should be properly debated, including in the Parliament, as occurred before the 1980 Act came into force. There were earlier submissions in 2020, most of which opposed the re-development. Two former heads of the Memorial, former ambassadors, several ex-departmental secretaries, 82 historians, former diplomats, public servants, academics, journalists and curators opposed it, arguing in almost 600 submissions against the redevelopment of the Memorial. It is extraordinary that the plans have gone ahead in the face of so many well-founded and expert arguments against the proposal put forward by proponents of the plan.
VETERANS
The number of suicides among returned service personnel and the prevalence of PTSD in veterans indicates that it is the people who served the nation in war who should be the recipients of as much financial recompense as possible. To spend $500 million on redevelopment, when it could be focussed on the health of veterans is a waste of money. Some of our young people have witnessed the suffering of returned relatives, and heard of family stories of grief and pain.
Any “therapeutic role” provided by the Memorial would be minimal, relative to the suffering of veterans. Visits to the Memorial – or the knowledge that it exists – are unlikely to save lives or dispel depression.
Furthermore, the Memorial is a place for all Australians, not just for the Armed Services and Veterans. As young Australians, we are compelled to propose that the Memorial be retained as a place of sensitive remembrance, not a glorification of war and elevation of the justice of armed conflict.
A SHOWCASE for ARMS TRADERS
As young Australians, many of whom who were once honoured to visit the War Memorial in Canberra, we reject the talks of the proposed renovations to the Australian War Memorial. We believe that its present goal as an architectural symbol of remembrance of the courageous veterans who died at war should remain as such. This commemorative symbol should not be defiled with muscle weaponry and machinery overtly put on display to serve the economic interests of arms traders. At the very core of this memorial is the gratitude for the grief suffered in war. Revising its structural design, especially at such exorbitant cost, would simply detract from the solemnity and sacrifice made by these veterans.
National Capital Plan (NCP)
The young members of the Josephite Action Group do not think that the National Capital Plan (NCP) is well served by this re-development planning.
In its Principles for Objective one – Urban design and heritage, the NCP requires that “Substantial works of architecture, engineering and landscape within the Territory should be designed to contribute positively to the overall composition, symbolism and dignity of the National Capital.”
We argue that this re-development will not positively add to the pride of the National Capital, but rather will redefine the commemorative site into a landscape potent with hidden economic and political agendas. This new plan will not fulfil the stated objective for dignified urban design. Rather, it will minimise the human element and replace it with mass machinery engineered to signify hostility and ruthless combat. The Federal Government’s masking of this project as the revitalising of “the soul of the nation” neglects to mention the real desires of the Australian youth for the core meaning of this symbolic site and our aspirations of what we long for it to represent. Change if good when it comes with a set of progressive and positive reforms. In this case, however, the proposed change is destroying the simplicity of the Anzac Spirit, and the reality of war.
CONCLUSION
If a war memorial is defined as a “focus for the memory” should the lasting memory of war be about the symbolic lives of firearms and machinery? Is this the indelible mark we want to echo into the hearts and minds of our young students who take educational excursions to Canberra? Or do we showcase the human, who laid down his life for the greater good.
Young Josephite Australians feel that the $500 million dollars allocated to the re-development of the Australian War Memorial is an unnecessary infrastructure expansion project as it not only takes away funds from the deserving affected veterans and eager youth wanting to learn more, but also takes away from the social messaging historically and physically grounded in this site.
The veterans have fought their fight for long enough, therefore the Josephite Youth are impassioned to stand up for peace and equitable fund allotment to worthy recipients. This large sum should be placed into the education of children about Australian history that encapsulates human sacrifice and distributed to veterans stricken by PTSD and permanent psychological and physical trauma.
If Australia exists within a liberal democratic framework, we must uphold values of equity, democratic discussion and peace above all. The proper checks and balances have not been exercised by Australia’s bureaucratic structures prior to the beginning of this project. Consultation and heritage process have been ignored and the swift acceleration of this process suggests the public opinion and democratic debate will be override by the capitalist interests of the state government. The Josephite Youth want an Australian War Memorial that represents reverence, simplicity and the valour of human sacrifice, not the idolisation of soulless machinery that rationalises war.
We must be heard on this debate on the basis of our liberal thought and demand that war will not be glorified now or for years to come.
Joelle Sassine
10 September 2021
Bean Building Extension and Central Energy Plant
This submission is being presented on behalf of the Josephite Action Group (JAG), a ministry of the Congregations of the Sisters of St Joseph. We make this submission from the perspective of the Josephite Youth. With the Sisters of St Joseph, we serve, advocate and work for justice, for earth and for people, and especially for those pushed to the margins of our world.
JAG opposes unhesitatingly the excessive re-development of the Australian War Memorial. There has not been proper national debate about it, it will do little to improve veterans’ lives, and it will further glorify war. We believe that the War Memorial should be a place of reflection and commemoration, not a showcase for major donors – the arms dealers.
DEBATE
Australians are experiencing an unnecessary expansion of the national war memorial foisted on them without a proper national debate. Submissions are not adequate for this task. Instead, the Australian War Memorial Act should be properly debated, including in the Parliament, as occurred before the 1980 Act came into force. There were earlier submissions in 2020, most of which opposed the re-development. Two former heads of the Memorial, former ambassadors, several ex-departmental secretaries, 82 historians, former diplomats, public servants, academics, journalists and curators opposed it, arguing in almost 600 submissions against the redevelopment of the Memorial. It is extraordinary that the plans have gone ahead in the face of so many well-founded and expert arguments against the proposal put forward by proponents of the plan.
VETERANS
The number of suicides among returned service personnel and the prevalence of PTSD in veterans indicates that it is the people who served the nation in war who should be the recipients of as much financial recompense as possible. To spend $500 million on redevelopment, when it could be focussed on the health of veterans is a waste of money. Some of our young people have witnessed the suffering of returned relatives, and heard of family stories of grief and pain.
Any “therapeutic role” provided by the Memorial would be minimal, relative to the suffering of veterans. Visits to the Memorial – or the knowledge that it exists – are unlikely to save lives or dispel depression.
Furthermore, the Memorial is a place for all Australians, not just for the Armed Services and Veterans. As young Australians, we are compelled to propose that the Memorial be retained as a place of sensitive remembrance, not a glorification of war and elevation of the justice of armed conflict.
A SHOWCASE for ARMS TRADERS
As young Australians, many of whom who were once honoured to visit the War Memorial in Canberra, we reject the talks of the proposed renovations to the Australian War Memorial. We believe that its present goal as an architectural symbol of remembrance of the courageous veterans who died at war should remain as such. This commemorative symbol should not be defiled with muscle weaponry and machinery overtly put on display to serve the economic interests of arms traders. At the very core of this memorial is the gratitude for the grief suffered in war. Revising its structural design, especially at such exorbitant cost, would simply detract from the solemnity and sacrifice made by these veterans.
National Capital Plan (NCP)
The young members of the Josephite Action Group do not think that the National Capital Plan (NCP) is well served by this re-development planning.
In its Principles for Objective one – Urban design and heritage, the NCP requires that “Substantial works of architecture, engineering and landscape within the Territory should be designed to contribute positively to the overall composition, symbolism and dignity of the National Capital.”
We argue that this re-development will not positively add to the pride of the National Capital, but rather will redefine the commemorative site into a landscape potent with hidden economic and political agendas. This new plan will not fulfil the stated objective for dignified urban design. Rather, it will minimise the human element and replace it with mass machinery engineered to signify hostility and ruthless combat. The Federal Government’s masking of this project as the revitalising of “the soul of the nation” neglects to mention the real desires of the Australian youth for the core meaning of this symbolic site and our aspirations of what we long for it to represent. Change if good when it comes with a set of progressive and positive reforms. In this case, however, the proposed change is destroying the simplicity of the Anzac Spirit, and the reality of war.
CONCLUSION
If a war memorial is defined as a “focus for the memory” should the lasting memory of war be about the symbolic lives of firearms and machinery? Is this the indelible mark we want to echo into the hearts and minds of our young students who take educational excursions to Canberra? Or do we showcase the human, who laid down his life for the greater good.
Young Josephite Australians feel that the $500 million dollars allocated to the re-development of the Australian War Memorial is an unnecessary infrastructure expansion project as it not only takes away funds from the deserving affected veterans and eager youth wanting to learn more, but also takes away from the social messaging historically and physically grounded in this site.
The veterans have fought their fight for long enough, therefore the Josephite Youth are impassioned to stand up for peace and equitable fund allotment to worthy recipients. This large sum should be placed into the education of children about Australian history that encapsulates human sacrifice and distributed to veterans stricken by PTSD and permanent psychological and physical trauma.
If Australia exists within a liberal democratic framework, we must uphold values of equity, democratic discussion and peace above all. The proper checks and balances have not been exercised by Australia’s bureaucratic structures prior to the beginning of this project. Consultation and heritage process have been ignored and the swift acceleration of this process suggests the public opinion and democratic debate will be override by the capitalist interests of the state government. The Josephite Youth want an Australian War Memorial that represents reverence, simplicity and the valour of human sacrifice, not the idolisation of soulless machinery that rationalises war.
We must be heard on this debate on the basis of our liberal thought and demand that war will not be glorified now or for years to come.
Joelle Sassine
10 September 2021
JAG opposes unhesitatingly the excessive re-development of the Australian War Memorial. There has not been proper national debate about it, it will do little to improve veterans’ lives, and it will further glorify war. We believe that the War Memorial should be a place of reflection and commemoration, not a showcase for major donors – the arms dealers.
DEBATE
Australians are experiencing an unnecessary expansion of the national war memorial foisted on them without a proper national debate. Submissions are not adequate for this task. Instead, the Australian War Memorial Act should be properly debated, including in the Parliament, as occurred before the 1980 Act came into force. There were earlier submissions in 2020, most of which opposed the re-development. Two former heads of the Memorial, former ambassadors, several ex-departmental secretaries, 82 historians, former diplomats, public servants, academics, journalists and curators opposed it, arguing in almost 600 submissions against the redevelopment of the Memorial. It is extraordinary that the plans have gone ahead in the face of so many well-founded and expert arguments against the proposal put forward by proponents of the plan.
VETERANS
The number of suicides among returned service personnel and the prevalence of PTSD in veterans indicates that it is the people who served the nation in war who should be the recipients of as much financial recompense as possible. To spend $500 million on redevelopment, when it could be focussed on the health of veterans is a waste of money. Some of our young people have witnessed the suffering of returned relatives, and heard of family stories of grief and pain.
Any “therapeutic role” provided by the Memorial would be minimal, relative to the suffering of veterans. Visits to the Memorial – or the knowledge that it exists – are unlikely to save lives or dispel depression.
Furthermore, the Memorial is a place for all Australians, not just for the Armed Services and Veterans. As young Australians, we are compelled to propose that the Memorial be retained as a place of sensitive remembrance, not a glorification of war and elevation of the justice of armed conflict.
A SHOWCASE for ARMS TRADERS
As young Australians, many of whom who were once honoured to visit the War Memorial in Canberra, we reject the talks of the proposed renovations to the Australian War Memorial. We believe that its present goal as an architectural symbol of remembrance of the courageous veterans who died at war should remain as such. This commemorative symbol should not be defiled with muscle weaponry and machinery overtly put on display to serve the economic interests of arms traders. At the very core of this memorial is the gratitude for the grief suffered in war. Revising its structural design, especially at such exorbitant cost, would simply detract from the solemnity and sacrifice made by these veterans.
National Capital Plan (NCP)
The young members of the Josephite Action Group do not think that the National Capital Plan (NCP) is well served by this re-development planning.
In its Principles for Objective one – Urban design and heritage, the NCP requires that “Substantial works of architecture, engineering and landscape within the Territory should be designed to contribute positively to the overall composition, symbolism and dignity of the National Capital.”
We argue that this re-development will not positively add to the pride of the National Capital, but rather will redefine the commemorative site into a landscape potent with hidden economic and political agendas. This new plan will not fulfil the stated objective for dignified urban design. Rather, it will minimise the human element and replace it with mass machinery engineered to signify hostility and ruthless combat. The Federal Government’s masking of this project as the revitalising of “the soul of the nation” neglects to mention the real desires of the Australian youth for the core meaning of this symbolic site and our aspirations of what we long for it to represent. Change if good when it comes with a set of progressive and positive reforms. In this case, however, the proposed change is destroying the simplicity of the Anzac Spirit, and the reality of war.
CONCLUSION
If a war memorial is defined as a “focus for the memory” should the lasting memory of war be about the symbolic lives of firearms and machinery? Is this the indelible mark we want to echo into the hearts and minds of our young students who take educational excursions to Canberra? Or do we showcase the human, who laid down his life for the greater good.
Young Josephite Australians feel that the $500 million dollars allocated to the re-development of the Australian War Memorial is an unnecessary infrastructure expansion project as it not only takes away funds from the deserving affected veterans and eager youth wanting to learn more, but also takes away from the social messaging historically and physically grounded in this site.
The veterans have fought their fight for long enough, therefore the Josephite Youth are impassioned to stand up for peace and equitable fund allotment to worthy recipients. This large sum should be placed into the education of children about Australian history that encapsulates human sacrifice and distributed to veterans stricken by PTSD and permanent psychological and physical trauma.
If Australia exists within a liberal democratic framework, we must uphold values of equity, democratic discussion and peace above all. The proper checks and balances have not been exercised by Australia’s bureaucratic structures prior to the beginning of this project. Consultation and heritage process have been ignored and the swift acceleration of this process suggests the public opinion and democratic debate will be override by the capitalist interests of the state government. The Josephite Youth want an Australian War Memorial that represents reverence, simplicity and the valour of human sacrifice, not the idolisation of soulless machinery that rationalises war.
We must be heard on this debate on the basis of our liberal thought and demand that war will not be glorified now or for years to come.
Joelle Sassine
10 September 2021
Anzac Hall and Glazed Link
This submission is being presented on behalf of the Josephite Action Group (JAG), a ministry of the Congregations of the Sisters of St Joseph. We make this submission from the perspective of the Josephite Youth. With the Sisters of St Joseph, we serve, advocate and work for justice, for earth and for people, and especially for those pushed to the margins of our world.
JAG opposes unhesitatingly the excessive re-development of the Australian War Memorial. There has not been proper national debate about it, it will do little to improve veterans’ lives, and it will further glorify war. We believe that the War Memorial should be a place of reflection and commemoration, not a showcase for major donors – the arms dealers.
DEBATE
Australians are experiencing an unnecessary expansion of the national war memorial foisted on them without a proper national debate. Submissions are not adequate for this task. Instead, the Australian War Memorial Act should be properly debated, including in the Parliament, as occurred before the 1980 Act came into force. There were earlier submissions in 2020, most of which opposed the re-development. Two former heads of the Memorial, former ambassadors, several ex-departmental secretaries, 82 historians, former diplomats, public servants, academics, journalists and curators opposed it, arguing in almost 600 submissions against the redevelopment of the Memorial. It is extraordinary that the plans have gone ahead in the face of so many well-founded and expert arguments against the proposal put forward by proponents of the plan.
VETERANS
The number of suicides among returned service personnel and the prevalence of PTSD in veterans indicates that it is the people who served the nation in war who should be the recipients of as much financial recompense as possible. To spend $500 million on redevelopment, when it could be focussed on the health of veterans is a waste of money. Some of our young people have witnessed the suffering of returned relatives, and heard of family stories of grief and pain.
Any “therapeutic role” provided by the Memorial would be minimal, relative to the suffering of veterans. Visits to the Memorial – or the knowledge that it exists – are unlikely to save lives or dispel depression.
Furthermore, the Memorial is a place for all Australians, not just for the Armed Services and Veterans. As young Australians, we are compelled to propose that the Memorial be retained as a place of sensitive remembrance, not a glorification of war and elevation of the justice of armed conflict.
A SHOWCASE for ARMS TRADERS
As young Australians, many of whom who were once honoured to visit the War Memorial in Canberra, we reject the talks of the proposed renovations to the Australian War Memorial. We believe that its present goal as an architectural symbol of remembrance of the courageous veterans who died at war should remain as such. This commemorative symbol should not be defiled with muscle weaponry and machinery overtly put on display to serve the economic interests of arms traders. At the very core of this memorial is the gratitude for the grief suffered in war. Revising its structural design, especially at such exorbitant cost, would simply detract from the solemnity and sacrifice made by these veterans.
National Capital Plan (NCP)
The young members of the Josephite Action Group do not think that the National Capital Plan (NCP) is well served by this re-development planning.
In its Principles for Objective one – Urban design and heritage, the NCP requires that “Substantial works of architecture, engineering and landscape within the Territory should be designed to contribute positively to the overall composition, symbolism and dignity of the National Capital.”
We argue that this re-development will not positively add to the pride of the National Capital, but rather will redefine the commemorative site into a landscape potent with hidden economic and political agendas. This new plan will not fulfil the stated objective for dignified urban design. Rather, it will minimise the human element and replace it with mass machinery engineered to signify hostility and ruthless combat. The Federal Government’s masking of this project as the revitalising of “the soul of the nation” neglects to mention the real desires of the Australian youth for the core meaning of this symbolic site and our aspirations of what we long for it to represent. Change if good when it comes with a set of progressive and positive reforms. In this case, however, the proposed change is destroying the simplicity of the Anzac Spirit, and the reality of war.
CONCLUSION
If a war memorial is defined as a “focus for the memory” should the lasting memory of war be about the symbolic lives of firearms and machinery? Is this the indelible mark we want to echo into the hearts and minds of our young students who take educational excursions to Canberra? Or do we showcase the human, who laid down his life for the greater good.
Young Josephite Australians feel that the $500 million dollars allocated to the re-development of the Australian War Memorial is an unnecessary infrastructure expansion project as it not only takes away funds from the deserving affected veterans and eager youth wanting to learn more, but also takes away from the social messaging historically and physically grounded in this site.
The veterans have fought their fight for long enough, therefore the Josephite Youth are impassioned to stand up for peace and equitable fund allotment to worthy recipients. This large sum should be placed into the education of children about Australian history that encapsulates human sacrifice and distributed to veterans stricken by PTSD and permanent psychological and physical trauma.
If Australia exists within a liberal democratic framework, we must uphold values of equity, democratic discussion and peace above all. The proper checks and balances have not been exercised by Australia’s bureaucratic structures prior to the beginning of this project. Consultation and heritage process have been ignored and the swift acceleration of this process suggests the public opinion and democratic debate will be override by the capitalist interests of the state government. The Josephite Youth want an Australian War Memorial that represents reverence, simplicity and the valour of human sacrifice, not the idolisation of soulless machinery that rationalises war.
We must be heard on this debate on the basis of our liberal thought and demand that war will not be glorified now or for years to come.
Joelle Sassine
10 September 2021
JAG opposes unhesitatingly the excessive re-development of the Australian War Memorial. There has not been proper national debate about it, it will do little to improve veterans’ lives, and it will further glorify war. We believe that the War Memorial should be a place of reflection and commemoration, not a showcase for major donors – the arms dealers.
DEBATE
Australians are experiencing an unnecessary expansion of the national war memorial foisted on them without a proper national debate. Submissions are not adequate for this task. Instead, the Australian War Memorial Act should be properly debated, including in the Parliament, as occurred before the 1980 Act came into force. There were earlier submissions in 2020, most of which opposed the re-development. Two former heads of the Memorial, former ambassadors, several ex-departmental secretaries, 82 historians, former diplomats, public servants, academics, journalists and curators opposed it, arguing in almost 600 submissions against the redevelopment of the Memorial. It is extraordinary that the plans have gone ahead in the face of so many well-founded and expert arguments against the proposal put forward by proponents of the plan.
VETERANS
The number of suicides among returned service personnel and the prevalence of PTSD in veterans indicates that it is the people who served the nation in war who should be the recipients of as much financial recompense as possible. To spend $500 million on redevelopment, when it could be focussed on the health of veterans is a waste of money. Some of our young people have witnessed the suffering of returned relatives, and heard of family stories of grief and pain.
Any “therapeutic role” provided by the Memorial would be minimal, relative to the suffering of veterans. Visits to the Memorial – or the knowledge that it exists – are unlikely to save lives or dispel depression.
Furthermore, the Memorial is a place for all Australians, not just for the Armed Services and Veterans. As young Australians, we are compelled to propose that the Memorial be retained as a place of sensitive remembrance, not a glorification of war and elevation of the justice of armed conflict.
A SHOWCASE for ARMS TRADERS
As young Australians, many of whom who were once honoured to visit the War Memorial in Canberra, we reject the talks of the proposed renovations to the Australian War Memorial. We believe that its present goal as an architectural symbol of remembrance of the courageous veterans who died at war should remain as such. This commemorative symbol should not be defiled with muscle weaponry and machinery overtly put on display to serve the economic interests of arms traders. At the very core of this memorial is the gratitude for the grief suffered in war. Revising its structural design, especially at such exorbitant cost, would simply detract from the solemnity and sacrifice made by these veterans.
National Capital Plan (NCP)
The young members of the Josephite Action Group do not think that the National Capital Plan (NCP) is well served by this re-development planning.
In its Principles for Objective one – Urban design and heritage, the NCP requires that “Substantial works of architecture, engineering and landscape within the Territory should be designed to contribute positively to the overall composition, symbolism and dignity of the National Capital.”
We argue that this re-development will not positively add to the pride of the National Capital, but rather will redefine the commemorative site into a landscape potent with hidden economic and political agendas. This new plan will not fulfil the stated objective for dignified urban design. Rather, it will minimise the human element and replace it with mass machinery engineered to signify hostility and ruthless combat. The Federal Government’s masking of this project as the revitalising of “the soul of the nation” neglects to mention the real desires of the Australian youth for the core meaning of this symbolic site and our aspirations of what we long for it to represent. Change if good when it comes with a set of progressive and positive reforms. In this case, however, the proposed change is destroying the simplicity of the Anzac Spirit, and the reality of war.
CONCLUSION
If a war memorial is defined as a “focus for the memory” should the lasting memory of war be about the symbolic lives of firearms and machinery? Is this the indelible mark we want to echo into the hearts and minds of our young students who take educational excursions to Canberra? Or do we showcase the human, who laid down his life for the greater good.
Young Josephite Australians feel that the $500 million dollars allocated to the re-development of the Australian War Memorial is an unnecessary infrastructure expansion project as it not only takes away funds from the deserving affected veterans and eager youth wanting to learn more, but also takes away from the social messaging historically and physically grounded in this site.
The veterans have fought their fight for long enough, therefore the Josephite Youth are impassioned to stand up for peace and equitable fund allotment to worthy recipients. This large sum should be placed into the education of children about Australian history that encapsulates human sacrifice and distributed to veterans stricken by PTSD and permanent psychological and physical trauma.
If Australia exists within a liberal democratic framework, we must uphold values of equity, democratic discussion and peace above all. The proper checks and balances have not been exercised by Australia’s bureaucratic structures prior to the beginning of this project. Consultation and heritage process have been ignored and the swift acceleration of this process suggests the public opinion and democratic debate will be override by the capitalist interests of the state government. The Josephite Youth want an Australian War Memorial that represents reverence, simplicity and the valour of human sacrifice, not the idolisation of soulless machinery that rationalises war.
We must be heard on this debate on the basis of our liberal thought and demand that war will not be glorified now or for years to come.
Joelle Sassine
10 September 2021