Source: Radio New Zealand
At the heart of the dispute is the RSA’s decision to use transitional rules allowing a new constitution to be approved by a simple majority rather than the 75 percent required under existing rules. RNZ / Nathan McKinnon
A civil war has been unfolding inside the RSA, with suspended clubs, unpaid fees, and a High Court fight exposing the deep fractures in one of New Zealand’s most historic organisations.
The Royal New Zealand Returned and Services Association is built to honour veterans and support their families, but the organisation is instead involved in a bitter internal fight that has spilled from clubrooms into the courthouse.
It comes down to money, power and a new constitution.
“It is the most unnecessary, gnarly fight that you will find in New Zealand at the moment, I believe,” says senior award-winning journalist David Fisher, who has been covering the story for the New Zealand Herald.
“It didn’t need to happen; they have all got better things to do. And those better things that they have to do are minding the welfare of the veterans that they were set up to care for.”
On one side, national body leaders; on the other, a core of five “rebel branches” with the backing of many more – “All up about a third of the 182 clubs.”
At the heart of the dispute is the RSA’s decision to use transitional rules allowing a new constitution to be approved by a simple majority rather than the 75 percent required under existing rules.
“The current state of the RSA probably goes back about three or four years ago, when Martyn Dunne came in as the leader of the organisation,” Fisher tells The Detail.
“And he, along with the team around him, at that time, felt it was really important that the RSA movement as a whole take a more proactive position on its existence and on its future.
“Buck Shelford was also involved in this. They talked about how it needed to be an end to booze barns, and it needed to be an organisation that returned to its core purpose. And that core purpose being veterans’ welfare.
“What that led to was an extraordinary restructuring of how the RSA works. Along the way, a huge number of bruised egos and an extraordinary amount of upset. A great deal of conflict between the different types of RSAs that exist out there … they were so conflicted as to what they were there for.”
You had a national body trying to modernise, he said, and local clubs fiercely protective of their independence.
The fight eventually escalated all the way to the High Court of New Zealand, where the rebel RSA branches challenged the process.
“The courtroom was packed by two groups of people representing the same individuals: the veterans,” Fisher says. “Both of them determined that they were doing the right thing and the best thing for those veterans, but absolutely unable to meet and agree on almost anything.”
Last month, the High Court finally released its ruling, rejecting the legal objection raised by the rebels, instead approving the RSA’s overhaul process, opening the door for the national body to proceed with its “controversial” reform.
The headlines that followed proved an uncomfortable moment for an institution built on unity. But Fisher says, the organisation isn’t alone.
“As tumultuous as the RSA situation is, the entire veterans’ community is a tumultuous, crazy mess. None of them agree with each other; there have to be half a dozen quite separate veterans’ groups across the country that will not share the same breathing space with each other.”
So, what happens now?
“The national office has set its course … they are very clear on where they are headed.
“The rebel alliance is tentatively working itself into a position of setting up a new veterans’ organisation that would incorporate all the old RSAs.”
Fisher says the alliance has also launched an appeal.
For many communities, the RSA is more than just a veterans’ organisation.
It is a social hub, a meeting place, a reminder of the country’s military past and the people who served.
For generations, it has been woven into the fabric of small towns and big cities across the country.
But times have changed.
The veterans of earlier wars are ageing, membership numbers have declined, and some clubs have struggled financially, forcing closures.
“So many clubs have closed over the years, and the rough estimate in value, from those closed clubs, is that they have lost about $100 million,” says Fisher.
“That is money that has just drifted away, wasted away over time as they have tried to prop up bars that are selling cheap Lion Red to people that don’t turn up, trying to maintain clubrooms that are a real point of pride for the dwindling number of RSA members that might be in a community, and they just can’t afford to keep them going.
“Those assets have just wasted away over the years – assets that really were intended to be for veterans’ welfare.”
More recently, some branches have fallen behind on capitation fees, the payments local clubs make to fund national operations and veteran services. Without that money, the organisation says its ability to advocate for and support veterans is weakened.
“That’s a difficult thing because the national office is not cheap to run. You can’t run a machine without putting fuel into the tank.
“[But] some clubs said, why give money to the national office if they can’t look after the money they already have.”
And as the country prepares to mark Anzac Day, the organisation at the heart of that remembrance finds itself fighting another internal conflict: rival poppies.
“If there is an illustration to be brought to light in this, it is the Anzac Day coming up,” says Fisher.
“The national office has ordered their poppies from the British Legion in the UK, which very oddly means that for our April commemoration, we will have a poppy that has two oak leaves and the oak leaves are pointed at 11 o’clock on an analogue clock to mark the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.
“That’s a very incongruous thing to have for an April commemoration.
“Meanwhile, in the north, the rebel alliance has got its own poppies, which it’s having manufactured, and do not have oak leaves on them; in fact, the design of them is very New Zealand-centric.
“Now it will be who can get whose poppy on the Governor General, on the Prime Minister, on the leader of the opposition, on the minister of veterans affairs … somewhat awkward for those people too.”
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
