Military leaders lobbied against elevation of first world war general to field marshal

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Malcolm Turnbull has decided not to posthumously promote Sir John Monash to the highest rank in the Australian army after lobbying from military leaders against the change.

The world war one general is widely regarded as Australia’s greatest military commander, and senior government ministers and past politicians had been pushing for his elevation to the rare army rank of field marshal.

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Supporters, including the opposition leader, Bill Shorten, and various Coalition MPs, had hoped the prime minister would announce the change in time for next week’s opening of the Sir John Monash Centre at Villers-Bretonneux in France with the French prime minister, Edouard Philippe.

But Fairfax Media on Wednesday reported that Turnbull has opted not to elevate Monash.

Some in the military had been against the promotion, saying it would undermine defence force ranks.

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“I have the greatest respect for Sir John Monash, a very fine corps commander and contributor to Australia in other aspects of life,” retired Major General Michael Jeffery told Fairfax. “A lot of this is being done out of emotion and not out of a considered, merit-based case.”

One of the reasons given for the decision was that such a posthumous recognition had no precedent in the Australian forces.

“Unlike some overseas nations which award promotions posthumously, Australia has no legal precedent for this action,” the chief of defence force, Air Chief Marshal Mark Binskin, wrote in a letter, dated 10 April, to the prime minister and obtained by Fairfax.

