'Gunrunners': some years ago a former Head of the RAAF told Defending Country/Honest History that military brass referred to international arms dealers as 'gunrunners'. While folks at this level of the Australian Defence Force knew they were beholden to Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Boeing, Thales and others, they still found the relationship rather distasteful.
Four Corners this week (reporter Mark Willacy, producer Jonathan Miller) takes a deep dive into the links between gunrunners and the Australian War Memorial. Here's a trailer and some introductory text (text also below). Interviewees include Defending Country's President, Professor Peter Stanley, Sue Wareham from the Medical Association for Prevention of War, and Geoffrey Watson SC, from the Centre for Public Integrity.
We look forward to the show and will add to this post after show time.
ABC promo articles: https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/am/war-memorial-s-close-relationship-with-weapons-manufacturers/105030988; https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-03-10/australia-war-memorial-weapons-manufacturer-funding-four-corners/105015850
For more than 80 years, the Australian War Memorial has stood as a solemn shrine to those who have served and sacrificed for our country.
This week, Four Corners reveals how this sacred institution is increasingly entwined with the global arms industry — raising troubling questions about conflicts of interest, corporate influence, and the future of the memorial itself.
In Sacrifice, Gold Walkley Award-winning journalist Mark Willacy exposes how the war memorial has accepted funding from some of the world's largest weapons manufacturers, despite former insiders condemning the money as "dirty" and inappropriate for an institution dedicated to honouring the human cost of war.
As the war memorial undergoes a $550 million redevelopment — described by critics as an attempt to turn the site into a "Disneyland of war" — this investigation asks whether the expansion ensures the memorial's future or undermines its fundamental purpose.
Defending Country's sister site, Honest History, posted often about what we called 'the military industrial commemorative complex. Here's some of that material.
Picture credit: A demonstration led by the Medical Association for Prevention of War, outside the War Memorial on Remembrance Day, 2019 (supplied)
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