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Ben Roberts-Smith invitation to war memorial event appropriate', says Marles

Richard Marles says it's appropriate that the accused war criminal Ben Roberts-Smith will attend the official opening for the centrepiece of the revamped Australian War Memorial.

It's appropriate that Ben Roberts-Smith be given an invite to this, as a Victoria Cross recipient.

The Victoria Cross recipients have been invited to this, which is appropriate, I'm comfortable about that. What will be opened - the Australian War Memorial, it's an utterly fantastic extension to what is, I think, the most sacred building in our country. And we are very much looking forward to that. The prime minister will be there. It's a very significant moment for the nation.

If we look over the longer term, and people buy houses over the longer term, we will see housing prices continue to grow. What this is about, though, is trying to see a greater alignment in the growth of housing prices with the growth of wages. We do want to see housing become more affordable, see more Australians get into the housing market, see more first-time buyers, but we'll obviously see house prices continue to grow.