The Senate Hansard for 25 July 2018 containedthe Australian War Memorials answer to Question 166from the Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade (FADT) Committee (question asked by then Senator Rhiannon in Estimates). The answer included a table that purported to show figures for the value of financial contributions that the Memorial received from military and defence companies over three years.

Northrop Grumman and Raytheon are both military and defence companies. Both appear inthe authoritative Stockholm International Peace Research Institutes list of arms-producing and military services companies(p. 3).

Northrop Grumman is missing from the War Memorials table. Yet, Northrop Grumman appears as a donor to the Memorial inthe Memorials annual report for 2016-17(p. 92; donation amount not given). As well, War Memorial advertisements (for we are young and free) at the Canberra Airport during 2017 included the words proudly supported by Northrop Grumman, as reported by Honest History inAprilandOctoberof that year.

Raytheon is also missing from the War Memorials table. Yet, Raytheon appears in the Memorials annual reports for2016-17as a donor (p. 92; amount not given) and2015-16(p. 145; amount greater than $20,000).

On 18-19 October, Honest History provided the above evidence to the secretariat of the FADT Committee, which said it would be passed on tomembers of the Legislation Committee(which considers Estimates): Senators Abetz (chair), Gallacher (deputy chair), Fierravanti-Wells, McGrath, Moore and Patrick. On 22 October, Honest History also gave the evidence to the Australian Greens, given that Senator Rhiannon represented the Greens when she asked the original question. So, the material was available to Senators prior to the appearance on 24 October of Australian War Memorial representatives at Additional Estimates.

Despite the above efforts, Senators at the hearing (Abetz, Gallacher, Fierravanti-Wells, and Moore) did not press War Memorial Director Nelson on this matter. The Memorials half hour was taken up with soft questions and lengthy answers on the Memorials plans for the Armistice centenary and its proposed extensions. At one point, Senator Gallacher facetiously asked the Director whether anyone ever said No to him (the Director) but the Director evaded the question.

Honest History has previously commented on the accountability standards reached by the Memorial. In 2016,the Memorials website carried a charter letter(sub-heading Dead parrot in Limestone Avenue) setting out ministerial expectations of the Memorial, but the letter carried the name of no minister and referred to a Commonwealth Act that had been repealed almost two years earlier. The Memorials annual reports for2014-15and2015-16contained questionable statistics on actual and online visitors and the 2015-16 annual report used out-of-date information.

Finally, it is worth noting that, while the War Memorial assiduously seeks donations from arms companies, the amounts those companies give the Memorial are no more than small change when compared withthe companies turnover: for example, Lockheed Martins donation of $A100,000 in 2016-17 compared with its sales worth $US40.8_billion_in 2016; Boeings $131,900 in 2016-17 compared with $US29.5 billion in 2016. Rather puts it in perspective.

* David Stephens is the secretary of the Honest History coalition. For his other posts, a number of them on the links between the War Memorial and arms manufacturers (commonly given the nickname gunrunners by Australian Defence Force members), use our Search engine orour listing of posts by author.