Sacrifice

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.