Brendan Nelson takes job with Boeing, weeks after stepping down as head of Australian War Memorial

Former Australian War Memorial director Brendan Nelson has taken a senior job with Boeing, a company that controversially gave corporate sponsorship to the institution.

Nelson prompted significant criticism during his seven-year stint as AWM director for allowing weapons companies to act as corporate sponsors.

The AWM lists Boeing, Thales, Lockheed Martin and BAE systems among its corporate partners, and allows some to attach their names to individual parts of the AWM such as the BAE Systems Theatre, a conferencing facility.

Allowing weapons companies to sponsor a memorial to Australia’s war dead prompted criticism from former AWM director Brendon Kelson and the Medical Association for Prevention of War, which described the arrangement as “contemptible”.

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Nelson, also a former Australian defence minister, left his role as AWM head at the end of last year.

On Monday, Boeing announced that Nelson would become president of Boeing Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific.

The company’s announcement said he would lead the company’s work in defence systems, commercial airplane manufacturing, research and development and autonomous systems. Nelson will also head its community engagement efforts, including veteran outreach.

In a statement announcing the appointment, Nelson said it was an honour to join Boeing.

“Today, Boeing Australia employees are working across the country in high-tech jobs that help define and deliver the future of aviation and defence – not just for Australian customers but for the world,” he said.

Nelson has staunchly defended the AWM’s acceptance of arms manufacturer sponsorship. He argues arms companies had a corporate responsibility to help explain “what is being done in the name of our country”.

Nelson, in his capacity as AWM director, has personally thanked Boeing and other arms manufacturers for their “generous” support.

Kelson, a former AWM director from 1990 to 1994, said he was not particularly surprised by the appointment, and said he still believed there was a conflict posed by the AWM’s relationships with weapons companies.

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“While he was there at the memorial engaging with various manufacturers and purveyors of arms, I thought there was a moral conflict there,” Kelson told the Guardian. “My personal view was that the memorial, in engaging with those companies … it was about as appropriate as a tobacco company offering money to the Peter MacCallum institute for cancer.

An AWM spokesman said Nelson was “free to accept such a role” as a private citizen. The spokesman also said Boeing has been a corporate partner since 2011. Nelson began his term as director in late 2012.

“We understand Dr Brendan Nelson AO has taken up a position in the private sector with Boeing Australia. As a private citizen, he is free to accept such a role,” the spokesman said.

It is not the first time Nelson has taken work with arms companies. While he was still AWM director, Nelson took a job advising Thales, the French multinational. The job entitles Nelson to a fee, but he said he donated all the money to the AWM.

Internal documents obtained by Guardian Australia show the Thales job prompted some internal concern at the AWM. The laws governing the AWM generally prohibit directors from taking payments for outside work, unless ministerial approval is first obtained.

When Nelson obtained the approval, then veteran affairs minister Michael Ronaldson warned him to ensure the two roles did not come into conflict.

“Where the two roles could potentially be in conflict, I ask that you take the necessary steps to avoid these circumstances,” Ronaldson told him.