The Australian War Memorial has been criticized for its use of gender-neutral language to honor fallen servicemen and women.
Every evening at 4:45 p.m., the Canberra memorial respectfully honors a fallen Australian soldier with its Last Post ceremony, followed by sharing an appreciation of that life on Twitter.
Commencing from January 1, the military has shifted from using gender pronouns such as ‘his’ and ‘her’ when referring to their soldiers to utilizing the more inclusive pronoun of ‘their’.
A memorial source firmly declared that they were using the word ‘their’ to avoid confusion about genders among fallen soldiers.
Nevertheless, Barnaby Joyce, the opposition veterans’ affairs spokesman lambasted the memorial and deemed this initiative as “woeful wokeism.”
“The use of ‘their’ is grammatically correct and used only to denote possession,” a memorial spokesman said.
Mr. Joyce replied: “No one buys the argument this was suddenly changed to ensure perfect grammar.”
“The notion that this decision was made to avoid mistakes online is equally unbelievable because the Australian War Memorial uses the correct pronouns in ceremonies.”
He labeled the decision as an ultimate disrespect to Australia’s soldiers and inquired who had the authority to alter this policy.
To kick off the new policy, the memorial honored Flight Lieutenant Leo Braham Patkin in a heartfelt tribute.
“In the Last Post Ceremony for 1 January 2023, we remember and pay tribute to Flight Lieutenant Leo Braham Patkin and their service in the Second World War,” it wrote.
Wednesday’s post: “In the Last Post Ceremony for 4 January 2023, we remember and pay tribute to Corporal Albert Edward Flint and their service in the Second World War.”
These posts stand in stark contrast to those posted prior to the start of 2021.
A December 28 post says: “In the Last Post Ceremony for 28 December 2022, we remember and pay tribute to Lance Corporal Francis Thomas Joseph Kilmartin and his service in the First World War.”
In contrast to its profile posts on social media, the memorial page refers to servicemen and women using “his” or “her” as appropriate.
Matt Keogh’s Veterans Affairs Ministerial representative revealed: “The Minister was not aware of the phrasing of Australian War Memorial tweets.”
“The Australian War Memorial is an independent agency and is responsible for its own social media,2 the spokeswoman stated.
