Returned and Services League of Australia

The Returned & Services League of Australia, also known as the RSL, RSL Australia and RSLA, has the primary purpose of promoting the interests and welfare of current and former serving members of the Australian Defence Force, as well as their dependants. Their intention was to lobby for better benefits, treatment and welfare of veterans and serving members of the Defence Force and to preserve the health, wellbeing and security of Australia and the Australian way of life. Before then, state Returned Service Associations had lobbied for better conditions for returned service people in their respective states. The League soon became, and remains, the nation's largest ex-service organisation.

During the inter-war period 1919 to 1939, the RSSILA was recognised as the appropriate body to represent the interests of returned Australian service personnel in exchange for extending political cooperation to the Nationalist Party of Prime Minister Stanley Bruce. The RSSILA was noted for its right-wing politics, in 1919 drawing on its membership to form a 2,000-strong paramilitary force called the "Army to fight Bolshevism", and permitting various right-wing Australian militia groups access to its membership lists to convince returned servicemen to join them. In 1923, the League adopted the motto, "The price of liberty is eternal vigilance". After the Second World War, with K. M. Bolton as president of the powerful NSW branch, the League published antisemitic political cartoons encouraging the Australian government and Minister for Immigration Arthur Calwell to stem the flow of displaced Eastern Europeans, particularly German Jews. In 1948, World War I veteran and politician Fred Paterson was expelled from the organisation for being a communist.

In 1940, the name of the League changed to the Returned Sailors', Soldiers' and Airmen's Imperial League of Australia (RSSAILA). It changed in 1965 to the Returned Services League of Australia (RSL) and in 1990 to the Returned & Services League of Australia. Before that time, those whose service was limited to defending Darwin from Japanese bombing in World War II were not eligible to join, as they had never left Australia and thus could not be "returned".

National presidents since the league's inception are as follows:

{| class="wikitable floatleft mw-collapsible mw-collapsed border="1" style="width:95%; font-size: 86%; float:left; margin-left:2em; margin-right:2em; margin-bottom:2em"

! colspan="5"|

| style="text-align:center"| || Lieutenant Colonel || William Kinsey Bolton || ||style="text-align:center" |1916–1919

| style="text-align:center"| || Captain || Sir Gilbert Dyett || ||style="text-align:center" |1919–1946

| style="text-align:center"| || Colonel || Sir Eric Millhouse || ||style="text-align:center" |1946–1950

| style="text-align:center"| || Sergeant || Sir George Holland|| ||style="text-align:center" |1950–1960

| style="text-align:center"| || Lieutenant Colonel || Sir Arthur Lee|| ||style="text-align:center" |1960–1974

| style="text-align:center"| || Brigadier || Sir William Hall|| ||style="text-align:center" |1974–1978

| style="text-align:center"| || Captain || Sir William Keys || ||style="text-align:center" |1978–1988

| style="text-align:center"| || Brigadier (Retd) || Alf Garland || ||style="text-align:center" |1988–1993

| style="text-align:center"| || Major General (Retd) || William Brian "Digger" James || ||style="text-align:center" |1993–1997

| style="text-align:center"| || Major General (Retd) || Peter Phillips|| ||style="text-align:center" |1997–2003

| style="text-align:center"| || Major General (Retd) || Bill Crews|| ||style="text-align:center" |2003–2009

| style="text-align:center"| || Rear Admiral (Retd) || Ken Doolan || ||style="text-align:center" |2009–2016

| style="text-align:center"| || Major || Rod White || ||style="text-align:center" |2016–2017

| style="text-align:center"| || Warrant Officer || Robert Dick || ||style="text-align:center" |2017–2018

| style="text-align:center"| || Major General (Retd) || Greg Melick ||, SC||style="text-align:center" |2019–2025

| style="text-align:center"| || Major || Peter Tinley || ||style="text-align:center" |2025–

Governance

The objects of the League remain relatively unchanged from its first incorporation. The League expresses its vision as: <blockquote>Together, our vision is to help Australia's veterans and Defence families enjoy better opportunities in all aspects of their lives. The company is governed by a board comprising the national president and deputy national president, chairman, a director from each of the seven state/territory branches, and three independent non-member directors. Anglophilic, and monarchist.

In the 1970s and 1980s, many defence force personnel, including veterans of the Vietnam War, found the RSL – whose members had predominantly served in the Second World War – generally unwelcoming and disdaining of their service. Since the turn of the century, with the number of Second World War veterans in the RSL dwindling, Vietnam veterans and their contemporaries, along with ex-servicemen's wives, have become mainstays of the League.

Symbolism

The League's badge is a symbol of readiness at all times to render service to the country and to former comrades. It is an offence in most states and territories for non-members to wear the RSL badge. The shield is symbolic of the protection which the RSL gives to its members, their dependents, and widows/widowers and orphans of those who paid the supreme sacrifice.

Branches and sub-branches

thumb|right|RSL sub-branches often operate from small suburban premises, such as here in [[Wagga Wagga, in contrast to the usually large public licensed "RSL club" buildings in New South Wales, which in that state are not owned by the RSL]]

Each state and territory has a branch of the League, with similar hierarchical structures. Within each branch is a series of districts and sub-branches that serve the interests of members in a particular geographic area.

The naming of these branches and sub-branches can be confused with the commercial entities generally called RSL Clubs. Ownership and operation of RSL and Services clubs differ from state to state. For example, RSL NSW and its sub-branches do not own or operate any registered clubs, nor do they own or operate poker machines; however, RSL Victoria sub-branches do.

Mr White denied any wrongdoing and was quoted as saying, when questioned by an ABC News reporter: "I believe I have personally fulfilled my obligations legally and ethically and I'm just absolutely surprised at your questioning of my integrity in that regard".

In October 2016, legal advice commissioned by the RSL's New South Wales Branch indicated RSL New South Wales councillors, including Mr White, may have broken the law by receiving a share in $1 million of consulting fees while holding a voluntary position in the veteran's group: "It is possible, but not certain, that in doing so they did not meet one or more of their duties and obligations, or contravened the law."

Subsequently, calls were made for Mr White to step aside in order to rebuild public trust in the League.

On 7 November 2016, ABC News reported Mr White as being likely to stand down pending an investigation into the consultancy fee payments, and that new documents obtained by ABC revealed that the quantum of consultancy fees paid was "far greater than originally thought – totalling more than $2 million since 2007".

On Remembrance Day 2016, ABC News reported that the New South Wales Branch of the RSL was at risk of losing its charity status as a result of the payment scandal and that the Australian Charities and Not-For-Profits Commission had written to the RSL "outlining its concerns that the league may not be meeting its obligations as a charity" and warning, as a worst case, that "the commission may use its powers to revoke the league's charity status if it finds evidence that the rules have been broken".

The RSL acting national president, Robert Dick, was subsequently reported as saying the league would be working with "regulatory bodies to deliver an appropriate corporate governance structure to ensure there is no maladministration in the NSW Branch. We are determined to expose any wrongdoing".

In March 2017, Mr White resigned as President of the RSL; he had held the position for eight months.

Licensed clubs

thumb|The Highett RSL Sub-Branch Club in suburban [[Melbourne, is one of more than 200 RSL and services clubs in Victoria]]

thumb|Caulfield RSL building, in Elsternwick, Melbourne

Licensed clubs were formed as commercial activities to initially provide services by sub-branches to their members, including providing an environment for the protection and promotion of the ideals of the ANZAC spirit and heritage. The venues were established to provide hospitality for war veterans and a place for comradeship. Often they were located on land granted by the state government. generated profits and often donated to local community services.

right|thumb|The RSL licensed club in [[Goodna, Queensland]]

Licensed clubs operating under the RSL name usually have bar and dining facilities for their members and guests, and sometimes have extensive gambling areas. Each evening at 6.00 pm the Ode of Remembrance is read, followed by one minute's silence to honour those who died serving their country.

RSL NSW and its sub-Branches do not own or operate any registered clubs, nor do they own or operate poker machines.

Other commercial activities

RSL Care

The first RSL home for ex-servicemen was established in 1938. The affiliated organisation, which became RSL Care, had 26 facilities in 2011. Following a merger with the Royal District Nursing Service in Victoria, in 2016 it became RSL Care RDNS Limited, an Australian public company registered as a charity, trading as Bolton Clarke. With more than 28 retirement communities throughout Queensland and New South Wales and several others in development, it was one of Australia's largest providers of retirement living and aged care services.

RSL Cabs

Operating under a co-operative structure, in 1946 a group of returned servicemen established RSL Ex-Servicemen's Cabs & Co-Operative Members Limited to provide taxi services to Sydney. By the 1950s, the co-operative had expanded to more than 60 drivers. it operated on a commercial basis in which drivers were not required to be members of the League.

RSL Art Union

Commenced in Queensland in 1956, the RSL Art Union is a lottery that raises funds to provide welfare services to ex-service men and women, their dependents and to other members of the community. A major prize of a luxury waterfront home on Queensland's Gold Coast is usually offered, together with a range of bonus prizes. , the RSL Art Union had provided since its inception A$80  million in prizes and had raised more than A$70 million for development and maintenance of RSL nursing homes, hospitals and centres, and retirement complexes for elderly people.

Notes

References

External links

RSL Australian Capital Territory website
RSL New South Wales website
RSL Queensland website
RSL South Australia website
RSL Tasmania website
RSL Victoria website
RSL Western Australia website
Among Mates – Culture Victoria video on the role and history of the RSL in Victoria and the foundation of the Caulfield branch.
RSL Art Union
RSL Angeles City Sub Branch Philippines
In Flanders Field
Poppies