Auditor-general slams upgrade to Australian war memorial

2018 and the foundation stone of a controversy is laid. These plans are imaginative and they are creative and appropriate for the memorial’s purpose and place in Australia. Is this housing the soul of our nation? Now the audit office is providing a window into the government’s half billion dollar decision. The Morrison government approved the redevelopment in October 2018 and announced it in November of 2018, six months before a federal election, all without the final detailed business case for the project. In an ideal world, the government should have looked at that more slowly and carefully, but it was rushing to get this project. Up and running. Instead, the decision to fund the project was based on an incomplete preliminary report. All of the information that they needed in order to take that decision was provided to government at the time they took that decision. By January 2021, the project was in need of an extra $50 million, the report found. Then Veterans Affairs Minister Andrew G was verbally briefed on the additional costs. It wasn’t only verbally. You can’t get money through government, only on verbally. There has to be a formal. Financial and and sort of ministerial process and that was followed. By March 2021 the new funding had prime ministerial approval. Seven days before the memorials council had officially asked for it. The audit office also found the War Memorial misrepresented the value of some contracts to avoid the need for ministerial approval. It’s not illegal, but it is sharp practice. Despite the criticisms, the Auditor General found the memorials management, procurement and governance of the project has been largely effective. The current minister for Veterans Affairs has requested an urgent briefing by the audit and says he plans to meet with the memorials management.