Returned and Services Association rebel group threatens to quit national RSA body
- A drive to change RSAs by the head office has led to rebellion.
- RSA national chair Martyn Dunne says change is essential to avoid ‘slow death’.
- The rebel group says alternative ideas are not welcome.
Comrades.
I love the RSA.
I think the RSA is an incredibly important part of our community.
I think everyone should go to their local RSA at least once every 6 weeks.
It’s great kai, at a VERY affordable price, cheap bevies and meat raffles galore.
It’s an important social hub for local families to have a night out and a great chin wag with the old boys.
The light gets dimmed, everyone pauses, reflects and has a wonderful evening of communal interaction.
Your local RSA needs you, and we should support them.
I appreciate the current tensions between the National RSA and the local branches. The National body want local RSAs to be more focused on delivering mental health services to actual veterans and while I absolutely believe Local RSAs should be a focus point for veteran specific services, they should also be directly paid for that mental health delivery and dismissing the social part of RSAs would be a terrible reduction in the importance of that social interaction for many in our community.
Just like Marae do during a civil defence emergency, the Local RSA becomes a focus point for civil defence responses and I believe that they should be receiving ongoing funding to provide that role for the community as well.
Let’s keep supporting our local RSA.
Let’s hope they get extra funding for Veteran Services and that they have more resources for Civil Defence purposes because we need to be supporting social functions and social spaces.
Loneliness is what is killing so many of our elderly now, let’s re-establish our links with the RSA and resource them properly for the tasks and obligations we set them.
Increasingly having independent opinion in a mainstream media environment which mostly echo one another has become more important than ever, so if you value having an independent voice – please donate here.
Unfortunately the words “age shall not weary nor the years condemn” have become more poignant than ever as large numbers of the population are priced out of life.
The problem with the RSAs is once the real veterans died off they become a cheap place to get pissed for the younger ring in generation who were bought in to bolster numbers to keep them open .
Absolutely. The old soldiers come and sell poppies in our local mall, and I now say, “ Thank you for your service.” The sacrifices which they made must never be forgotten, and it’s good that school children are now aware of Anzac and all that that entailed.
An institution of the past? And An outdated model? Yes, the armed forces still exist and there are ‘veterans’ of more recent conflicts – but the old fellas of WW1 are long gone and very few left of WW2.
Doesn’t mean we don’t remember them. Out of respect to my 95 year old mother-in-law I regularly go the the ANZAC services – with mixed emotions. On the one hand I feel really really sad that all those young men (and from all accounts some women) ‘gave’ their lives for the promise of adventure and the deceit of power-makers well removed from their everyday lives. It’s a time in history I can’t fathom – yes, war has been with humanity for eons and yes we are told that fascism and imperialism was a danger to democracy- the fight for ‘freedom’ and all that – yes, now I’ve got a few years on the clock I kinda get it – but I was from a different generation and one that was witness to the huge deceit of the Vietnam War. For what? How can we trust those in power?
Those sentiments aside, why is it RSL Australia appears to be a successful business model yet RSA NZ languishes in the dark ages. Where does the investment come from? Some kind of partnership? Or does Australia simply have more people and can sustain the current business model. To be fair, a few RSAs here in NZ have tried but the one I live near had a fire, lost or sold the building, and have moved to a bowling club. It’s invisible. Even on ANZAC Day.
Some may not like the glitter of the RSLs – not becoming of the respect deserved some will say.
https://www.rslaustralia.org/
A quick glance of the website would seem to suggest otherwise.
I am in Australia at the moment visiting my sons.The local,RSL is full of pokie machines .The only time they stop rolling is when the last post plays . Cheap meals and cheap drink is paid for by those that lose their money on the machines .It is not something we want to copy. Australia is a country full of gamblers and the sorrow it brings with it.
Oz RSL are deep into gambling – pokies etc. I have been there with others and could hardly get a word of conversation from one woman as she waited for the next pokie machine to become vacant. They can play for quite a while and get het up about the win that must be due to come to them at last – nothing else matters. If wanting to keep on using the machine (and get that win) but had to leave for the toilet, you put a handkerchief over it and gambler’s code recognised that it had been ‘spoken for’. And so on.
RSA has kept more to the social aspect even when they have some gambling. The RSA people should have a yearly talk about war recent, and those of the past and then a dinner. We should be aware of these regular outbreaks and how they destroy people and cause societal strain, yet it all seems for nought, and soon another starts.
They might have taken an interest in the Peace youngsters who wanted to join in the Anzac gatherings with white poppies. The RSA men were angry and pushed them off. Perhaps they didn’t know about the students in Germany who adopted the white rose* as a symbol for rejection of war. They were killed for bringing the idea of peace to the fore. Wouldn’t that be something to remember by the returned servicepeople here? That bravery and sacrifice and suffering from their own people. We had Archibald Baxter and others here, but the students have a special place in my memory.
The problem is that as long as they get some government help, and when the Vietnam vets actually were acknowledged by all, and if now the nuclear-affected of the Labour bold defiance at Muroroa are supported. then there seems nothing more to say except to attend the ceremonies. The RSA could have done more to honour the sacrifices of the dead and injured themselves.
*The White Rose Student Movement
Participedia
https://participedia.net
12 Dec 2023 — The White Rose secretly distributed six sets of leaflets from June 1942 until their execution in February 1943 [3].
and
White Rose
Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org
The White Rose was a non-violent, intellectual resistance group in Nazi Germany which was led by five students and one professor at the University of Munich…
Totally agree Martyn, to use a military terminology , they shot themselves in the foot…tried to join the local RSA & was informed that because I had not served I was not eligible, end of story.
I used to run a lot to Oz in those days so I joined the Matraville RSL, no name on the board, no real questions, was not even domiciled in Oz, come on in they said.
What a difference, it was the community centre for the local area, all the old farts were there until about 1930 hrs then there was a sea change, the band kicked in & all the younger kids from the area turned up & had a good time, good food & entertainment.
The respect was there as the ode was done, total silence while it was read out, everybody knew what the RSL was all about & why it existed.
When you contrast that to NZ it’s no wonder that it is dying, when back in NZ I used my key fob to go to the RSA that I tried to join, asked why it was so difficult to become a member.
They trotted out the usual you haven’t served, I asked them how they got to Europe or the pacific in both wars…did they walk, what about the sacrifice of the people who thru no fault of there own could not serve?
In reality they have brought their own demise on themselves by rigidly excluding the community that would be only too willing to support them.
All RSA clubs have an associate membership – I’ve never served and have been a member at three different clubs over 30 years!! My father was a WW2 veteran and inclued my brother and I in the RSA from our teens – I still have membership in two – Dad’s old club in Auckland and my current local in Whakatane!
RSL Australia relies on pokies and is still dying.