Nicely put...but be prepared for the outrage.
I always wondered why politicians "need" our war stories in this day and age...however it seems sheer jingoism is enough of a reason. Get people thinking in patriotic terms and their brains switch off, allowing any amount of lies, deaths and BS to be acceptable.
I once talked to a war vet who was utterly disgusted by the Anzac day antics. Whilst we once again get involved in foreign police actions for dubious reasons ("war on terror"...really?) there is the usual spouting of "lest we forget" and the jingoistic applause for our war history. Saying "Lest we forget" is sort of insulting while we continue multi decade wars for energy resources. (To those who still believe the "base for terrorist" reasons, please do research!)
We in the west have the luxury of exporting the violence...I'm sure we wouldn't be so sanguine if it was our backyard being "shock and awed". In the past our soldiers did provide a national rallying point and helped us part from the "land of convicts" identity. Our modern wars are doing the opposite: Branding us as complicit in a series of illegal and immoral wars for the last gasp of a dying militaristic empire. Far from national unity based on defence, we are now creating division based on hype and untruths.

Nicely put Ozandy.

One wonders why/how the Veteran Affairs Department can really justify spending money on what is in effect a propaganda campaign to promote our military history, or more correctly mythology.

Shouldnt its only function be to provide the necessary support services for wounded ex-service men and women and their families. Last weekend there were items in the papers describing the unsatisfactory nature of the support given to wounded, maimed, and traumatized soldiers who served in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

It is not only our history it highjacks, it poisons the present with its apparent legitimising past killings of other human beings.

The only way to get our of this barbaric, anti social attitude is to make all killing of humans illegal (with the possible exception of mercy killings in hospitals). Every other killer must be branded a murderer, and if it happens in an official war then the killer becomes a war-criminal -- not a war hero!

Declaring wars (legalising killing another human being by any means, bayonet in the intestines, blowing them to bits with mortars and rockets, must be outlawed. It is possible: poison gas was outlawed, anti personell mines are almost there. Lets take the next step. Any country declaring war on another people should have the severest commercial sanctions imposed on it by the rest of society.

But the first step towards a war-less society would be to stop gloryfying past killing sprees and war memorials. There must be no more war heros, no more parades, no more Afganistans. If we have to use "...lest we forget" it should be a reminder of the horrors of war, not invite more killings.

I believe the increasing mythologicalization of the ANZACS and other wars is a good thing. The trend for the past 40 years, particularly in academia, is to denigrate the past, turning our history into one of shame. The ANZAC mythology, then, is a good counter-weight to the increasing pessimism about ourselves that is conjured by leftists and academics.
For it is incorrect of Mr Stephens to claim that ANZAC celebrations have overshadowed other aspects of history. ANZAC celebrations are held once a year, hardly a case for the domination of one aspect of history over another. I also highly doubt there is a "the relentless militarisation of our history," as Mr Stephens claims. History taught in The Academe at the moment is not one of militarization, but rather, one of shame. The current tend is to dig up any piece of "oppression" or of violence that one can find and then embed it in the consciousness of students in an attempt to induce guilt and shame in them for Australia's past actions.

Alfred
"But the first step towards a war-less society would be to stop gloryfying past killing sprees and war memorials. There must be no more war heros, no more parades, no more Afganistans. If we have to use "...lest we forget" it should be a reminder of the horrors of war, not invite more killings."

Nice sentiments but it's an impossibility.

Human beings form tribes based on shared ideals on how to live. Given that each tribe has its own code of conduct and can never entirely agree with one another, there will be inevitable friction between tribes and, in the worst case scenario, war.

To eradicate conflict you would have to make everyone think the same. This can't be done. Not only are we biologically and culturally endowed to stick to our own kind, but ontologically ideals only exist in a compare and contrast to other ideals; there are no ideals in-themselves, but only ideals created and sustained in accordance with contrasting ideals.

Aristocrat: True, conflict is probably unavoidable when border/resources are seen differently by different tribes.
Just look at the Israel situation!
But do we have to lie so much about our wars and their reasons? Sceptics of the WMD spin were attacked and insulted despite the facts. Most Americans and conservative Australians *still* believe the lies spouted by the media and our own PM. (Remember the proof that could not be revealed as it would risk the sources? More like risky to PM and media credibility!)
Alfred's war ban may be too hard, but the original "United Nations" idea that all nations can agree on *most* things was viable. What a shame the UN was hijacked by a few vested interests so the "more equal than others" nations just kept on fighting dirty, holding the nukes over the worlds nations like Damocles sword.
A recognition that "defence" should be on home soil rather than other nation's oil-fields would be a start. Arms dealers and the likes of Blackwater and Haliburton should be banned from media spin and political lobbying. Letting the most psychopathic members of society have the most power is just crazy! Students of history are rightly nervous when military propaganda becomes mainstream national "culture".
I believe optimism can come from the *real* driver of wealth and prosperity: science, engineering and an economic system that rewards wealth creators over greed and parasitism...glorifying past dirty (& sometimes necessary) deeds is not necessary.