A revamped design of the $21 million World War I and World War II memorials has been submitted to the Federal Environment Minister Tony Burke for approval under the Environmental Protection, Biodiversity and Conservation Act.
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The memorials, proposed for Rond Terraces at the foot of Anzac Parade, have been criticised by Australian War Memorial director Steve Gower.
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He said in October it seemed the memorials were based on a misunderstanding of the reason for the establishment of the Australian War Memorial.
His council would be disappointed if, once the memorials were erected, ceremonies were conducted there in conflict with the Australian War Memorial.
The Memorials Development Committee proposes to build the memorials.
Chairman Mike Buick said yesterday it had written to Mr Gower, assuring him that the proposed memorials would not detract from the pre-eminence of the national memorial.
The committee had considered the community's feedback on the proposal and had sought expert advice from a heritage architect to ensure the designs met the strict standards of the Act.
Design modifications would reduce the height of the memorials from 20m to 15m.
''They will be repositioned on the allocated Rond Terrace site to preserve the Parliament House/Australian War Memorial vista and to ensure continued public access to the Rond Terrace site for local community events,'' Mr Buick said.
Mr Burke's approval would clear the way for the memorials.
They had already been approved by the Canberra National Memorials Committee. The modification did not change the alignment so the design would not require further approval by that committee.
''Their realignment and repositioning will in no way change the original commemorative purpose nor design intent,'' Mr Buick said.
The site had been allocated until 2013. The Memorials Development Committee would have until then to demonstrate to the Canberra National Memorials Committee ''that we can pull it off''.
The $21 million to pay for the memorials would be raised by public appeals and approaches to philanthropic people.