I was approached recently by a TV program with a view to talking about Anzac Day.

I felt that I ought to outline what sort of views the program might expect about Anzackery, Frontier Wars and the Australian War Memorial.

Those views were indications  I would pursue for the show. But sadly, the next day the program had reconsidered and decided to take a different approach.

So – some talking points prepared as an aide memoire for the appearance won’t be heard on TV but regular readers can get the gist of what was proposed.

Anzac Day is a very important part of our history but it is becoming part of a much bigger obsession which seeks to make war the definitive indicator of the Australian experience.

I’ve never marched on Anzac Day although I saw my father march when I was young, and I spoke at our local Port Melbourne Anzac Day commemoration one year.

Our company also provided staff pro bono to assist with the promotion of the Australia Remembers campaign.

But that doesn’t stop me taking a hard-headed look at how we approach commemorations.

For instance, we spent millions more commemorating World War One than any of the other nations which were involved.

And what’s worse is that we are spending money on commemoration when services to veterans are fraying. For instance, I am still waiting for reimbursement payment for a medical bill I submitted for payment months ago. It would be ironic if I survived Vietnam and died waiting for a small medical payment.

We also need to have a clear-eyed view of what Gallipoli was all about.

Theoretically it was opening up a new front in the war by opening up the Dardanelles. Allied with that was the realisation by the British Cabinet that they needed to ensure the Russians were able to send their wheat westwards to provide food for the UK. But it was also to ensure the Russians were able to earn the money to repay their debts to British bankers.

There is also a yawning gap in our commemoration as the Australian War Memorial continues to ignore the significance of our defining war – the Frontier Wars.

The Frontier Wars lasted longer than the European 100 years War and there were more lives lost in the Frontier Wars than there were fallen Australian soldiers in World War I, The Second World War, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan and everywhere else we have rushed to send troops combined.

So, when we say Lest We Forget we need to remember that our commemorations involve a lot of forgetting of our longest and most deadly war.