Leader trumps Labor on commemoration

TONY Abbott has signalled he will recast the priorities of the 2014-18 World War I centenary by insisting upon a new approach to Australian war commemoration on the Western Front.

In his speech yesterday on defence policy, the Opposition Leader gave his support to a fresh initiative - the creation of a "museum or interpretative centre" on the high ground at the existing Australian national shrine at Villers-Bretonneux, the site of the famous victory by Australian forces on Anzac Day 1918.

Mr Abbott said the purpose would be "to explain the work and significance of the First Australian Imperial Force" on the Western Front in France and Belgium, where more than 46,000 Australians lost their lives over 1916-18 with more than 100,000 wounded. This is a personal commitment by Mr Abbott if he becomes prime minister. It is a leadership commitment to Western Front commemoration so far conspicuously lacking from Labor. Mr Abbott said the role of the AIF in 1918 was "probably the closest Australia has yet been to a pivotal moment in world history".

His statement recognises the serious defect in the current WWI commemoration plans. This is the extraordinary failure to commit to an enduring legacy on the Western Front and assist the hundreds of thousands of Australian tourists certain to visit the Front over the coming decade.

It follows an article in The Weekend Australian (July 7-8) calling for the centenary to involve the construction of an Australian Information Centre for the Western Front at Villers-Bretonneux based upon the Canadian model at its Vimy Ridge memorial and negotiations between the Australian and French governments to expand the land available for the memorial and interpretative centre.

Labor's Veteran's Affairs Minister Warren Snowdon offered in-principle support for The Australian's concept, calling it a "smart thing", but he was unable to commit the Gillard government to the required funding.

Mr Snowdon's predecessor as minister, Labor's Alan Griffin, invested a large amount of time and effort assessing prospects and locations for a new interpretative centre on the Western Front.

But Mr Abbott's speech yesterday is a breakthrough. It is the first time a prime minister or opposition leader has given support to a new and permanent Australian presence on the Western Front that can serve as a guide and focal point for Australians visitors.

Mr Abbott said that "one hugely beneficial outcome" of the future centenary commemorations should be the new interpretative centre. It means an Abbott government would urgently rethink the planning, priorities and philosophy of the WWI commemorations currently suffering from a lack of boldness, imagination or political will.