The opposition’s veterans’ affairs spokesman Barnaby Joyce says a $550 million upgrade for the Australian War Memorial should not be dependent on a business case.

Barnaby Joyce’s defence of the project follows revelations the former coalition government approved the costly upgrade before a case could be delivered.

A scathing report into the upgrade revealed how Scott Morrison announced the controversial project before a business case for it was put together, conflicts of interest over key contracts and large cost blowouts.

In one case, the auditor-general found a company had its contract increased to just $1 below the threshold at which it would need ministerial approval before the same firm had an $805,000 contract extended to $16.9 million.

But Joyce said he was “supremely relaxed that our government made the decision to announce the project before a business case had been completed”.

“We say ‘Lest we Forget’, we have never said ‘Lest we Forget, dependent on a business case’,” he said in a statement to AAP.

“While the auditor has identified important improvements for better processes and ministerial oversight, I am supremely relaxed that our government made the decision to announce the project before a business case had been completed.”

He maintained Australian veterans should be honoured regardless of the findings in a business case and said the upgrade would create a memorial the nation would be proud of.

“I am uncomfortable when the words ‘business case’ and ‘remembering them’ are used in the same sentence - very uncomfortable,” Mr Joyce said.

“We didn’t send our fine men and women to war based on a business case, they didn’t die and get shot-up based on a business case, and we shouldn’t decide whether we remember them or not, based on a business case.”

The Australian War Memorial’s multimillion dollar upgrade, which is slated for completion in 2028, has been mired in controversy from the outset.

AAP