War Memorial's stinging response to stories about their accounts

The fact is that the AWM, like every other major cultural institution in this city, is absolutely low on funding, and continually slogged by the efficiency dividend. Perhaps, johnboy, you should take a look at the AWM’s annual report for a reality check on the size of funding and the output (and the same for other places).

The War Memorial does not get ‘every expanded funding’, and a capital injection every so often is actually a double-edged sword: government’s want to open new buildings and the like, but not to fund the staff and services to keep them open.

Your cynical view is completely misplaced, and ignores the fact that every year the AWM and other institutions must make real budget decisions that more often than not lead to people losing their jobs, and more and more jobs becoming contract positions without long-term certainty. Gower, for all his problems, and every other director has the jobs of highly-qualified and talented people in his hands–so let him dog-whistle if it keeps a few people employed, and a huge number of tourists coming through the doors.