It is time to refresh the Australian War Memorial council

He can do this by replacing up to five council members when their terms expire between February and April.

Mr Keogh is the minister responsible for the Memorial. Under its legislation, he recommends to the Governor-General who should be appointed or re-appointed to the council.

Clearly, the composition of the council is relevant as it considers changes of direction, particularly in the recognition of the Frontier Wars. Will it be stumbling block or facilitator?

Here are the five whose terms are ending. Not all of the information is on the Memorial's website; there is more on Honest History, collected from public sources:

What's missing among those five and the whole council? The Memorial focuses on an important part of our history but where on the council are the trained and respected historians? There have been none since Geoffrey Blainey (1997-2004) and Tom Frame (2004-07) and they both did good work while they were there. The Council needs more historians, as well as experts in archives, art, and museology.

The Memorial says it will do more on the Australian Frontier Wars, but where are the First Nations people on its council? What about First Nations historians?

And who says former service people must be represented by the RSL president, who is elected not by mass ballot but by a stitch-up between state branches (National By-Law 3.3(b)) and whose members make up barely one-quarter of current Australian ex-service and current service personnel.

General Melick said last year that "a major feature [at the Memorial] on frontier wars will piss off the majority of Australia's 600,000 veterans". Looking at the difference between RSL and overall numbers, that claim is questionable.

The Memorial's act says nothing about an ex officio position for the RSL. There are other ex-service organisations, some of them set up because the RSL was not cutting it. Why not have someone from Soldier On or Mates4Mates?

Shouldn't there be a limit on members' terms generally? Surely, one or two terms (three or six years) is enough?

As for politics, we don't know the leanings of all council members, but we do have a 2022 Grattan Institute report, which wondered why four out of 10 council non-ex officio members had Coalition connections.

With the departure of Brendan Nelson, it's probably just three now, not counting political donors, while the current chair is former Labor leader Kim Beazley.

Then there's the jingling of brass, the tinge of khaki. Every single one of the current 13 members of the council has a military connection, from the three service Heads ex officio to the retired Colonel and the retired senior RAAF and Army flight engineer, from the retired Wing Commander to the spouse of the former naval reservist, from the former defence minister to the former prime minister who (as PM) visited Australian troops in Afghanistan, from the War Widow to the former Army medico, from the Victoria Cross winner (and now employee of an arms manufacturer) to that retired Reserve Major General who also heads the RSL.

Of course, there should be military representation - that's what the ex officio positions are for - but not wall to wall. Too much already.

We don't suggest that members' personal or professional affiliations are the only influences on what they say and do on the council. But this council looks more like the governing body of a military club rather than of a cultural institution belonging to all Australians. It desperately needs new faces.

The members may be great at their day jobs and worthy in their charitable works, but they don't look much like the rest of us, or like most people who served and died in our overseas wars, let alone in the Frontier Wars.

Some of them have weird ideas about military service, too. Council member Tony Abbott once approvingly quoted Samuel Johnson: "every man does despise himself for never having been a soldier". Really?

Still, Mr Abbott got reappointed to the council on Mr Keogh's watch. So there's no telling.

Michelle Grattan recently wrote an annual report card on ministers. Mr Keogh didn't feature at all, but then most Veterans' Affairs ministers over the years wouldn't have. Here's a chance for this one to get a mention 12 months on. Fix the War Memorial council, minister!