Minister commits to further engagement with City of Albany over Federal funding for National Anzac Centre

Veterans’ Affairs and Defence Personnel Minister Matt Keogh says he is open to discussions about Federal funding support for the operation of Albany’s National Anzac Centre. Mr Keogh met with City of Albany representatives at the centre, which he was taken through for a first time, on Friday during a visit to Albany. He said there were discussions about “whether there is an opportunity for the Commonwealth Government to participate in the funding for the operation of that centre.” “They provided me with some information and we are going to consider it and look into what are the options that might be available,” he said. “Obviously, the Federal Government’s primary responsibility is with the national war memorial in Canberra and running our overseas memorial centres as well. “I’m happy to receive that information and we’ll have further engagements with the City of Albany about that.” Albany Mayor Dennis Wellington said it was a positive first meeting with Mr Keogh, whom he described as “easy to talk to.” He said it was a chance to introduce the minister to the issues with the centre’s funding model, which currently relies on visitors being charged an entry fee. “He hadn’t seen the centre so he wanted to get a good idea of what it was all about,” he said. “We specifically didn’t target him to talk about that, we just wanted to establish a relationship with him and ask if it was OK to send him the details on the business case. “We want to get it to him so that he can have a look at it and come to understand what the centre does, how important it is to the people of Albany and then we’ll have further in-depth discussions later on.” Mr Keogh was appointed to the Veterans’ Affairs and Defence Personnel portfolios in May after Labor’s victory in the Federal Election. In May last year, Darren Chester — the-then Minister for Veterans’ Affairs and Defence Personnel in the Coalition government — said he was concerned the burden of recurrent costs for a nationally significant centre was “sitting on the City of Albany and its residents”. “If the current admission prices are a barrier to Australians learning about their own nation’s history, well that is a problem for me as a minister,” he said last year. “I find it hard to rationalise that a centre of such national significance requires Australians to pay to enter, when the war memorial in Canberra is free.” WA opposition leader Mia Davies, who attended Albany’s Remembrance Day Service on Friday, said entry to the centre should be free. “It is a national asset and as such the Federal Government should play a larger part in removing the burden from the local government to make sure it can continue to offer an amazing experience,” she said. “There should be expansion through the forts and that whole precinct as a centre — “It is the home of the Anzacs and it deserves Federal support.”