An excellent article . Abolish the Department of Veterans Affairs . The functions of paying pensions and providing free medical treatment to veterans can be transferred to the departments which provide the like services to the general population .

The War Memorial should no longer be involved in tourist jaunts to battle sites . It should concentrate on maintaining its existing collection and collect no more VCs or other service medals . Let the relatives who inherit them keep them in glass cases at home and not sell them to the taxpayers .

Veterans and their families can still keep their memories and have a march . The Anzac commemmoration should be kept to the "one day of the year " and media should not keep running programs for a fortnight before and several days after , as they do now .

It is possible to respect the sufferings of those who fought in wars , even though , except for WW2 , none of the wars were any business of Australia 's , without continually celebrating battles . Despite the constant insistence that Anzac Day is not about glorifying war , in fact it does .

It also provides an excuse for persons who have never fought in any war to glorify themselves by wearing their ancestors ' medals and marching in the parade , and for politicians to seek favourable media comment by identifying themselves with the veterans .

I agree with the article and that the dept of veterans affairs ought to be demobed, with their service and quite massive budget out-sourced to other depts. I don't see Anzac day as anything other than a day of remembrance/commemoration/veneration and not a glorification of war.
Only those who have never ever served could ever come to that conclusion? And therefore invited by former soldiers, to keep their very misguided views to themselves; albeit, the terse invitation would likely be both briefer and less polite! ^*#@+^@&^!
I believe it was Churchill who said, "even those who only stand and wait also serve".
And military training also includes some injury, danger and death.
We already have a peacetime precedent, where those working inside the fuel tanks of F11's, i.e., were found to have been eligible for compensation and or TPI pensions.
Disbanding the dept of veterans affairs, would release a lot more funds for care and or compensation options, for all service personal, in any way injured as a consequence of serving!
This might even result in better recruitment outcomes, as serving ranks, see that they are no longer selectively disadvantaged in comparison to civilian occupations or careers? Rhrosty.

Bruce Haigh speaks for those veterans who not march on Anzac Day for the reasons he has expressed. November 11 is the day the nation remembers those who paid the supreme sacrifice. It also reinstates the pledge that was made that it was "to be the war to end all war". Anzac has forgotten that pledge and is indoctrinating the young for the future wars that are being planned.