The $498m about to be blown on the Australian War Memorial could be spent better | Paul Daley

Submitted by Paul Daley on Fri, 02/11/2018 - 4:00am

Did the expensive project just get the rubber stamp because of the magic Anzac cloak?

A few years ago the Australian historian and novelist Peter Cochrane wrote: “Drape ‘Anzac’ over an argument and, like a magic cloak, the argument is sacrosanct.”

And so it is, apparently, with the decision to spend $498m on an upgrade of the Australian War Memorial, Australia’s secular shrine for the worship of all things Anzac.

But that is the political power and, perhaps, the cultural potency of Anzac in 2018 Australia