By Julie Power
North Bondi RSL is calling for NSW RSL President Mick Bainbridge and the organisation’s entire board to be removed or stood down at the veterans group’s annual congress starting in Newcastle on Sunday.
In an email to other eastern suburbs sub-branches asking for their support, North Bondi secretary Josh Farquhar wrote that leadership failure had put veterans’ lives at risk.
The move follows revelations by the Herald that the RSL NSW is in crisis.
RSL chair Sophie Ray resigned from the board last week after an internal complaint that she filed against Bainbridge was leaked to the Herald. The District Presidents’ Council had called on her to resign.
Sophie Ray and Mick Bainbridge.
On Saturday, Farquhar wrote that irrespective of the facts behind the “allegations” and irrespective of “what actions might or might not have been taken by any party”, the articles published by the Herald had publicly revealed the RSL NSW Board was dysfunctional.
“All together, these failings are particularly inexcusable in the context of the findings of the Royal Commission into Veteran Suicide, which poignantly illustrated the need for effective leadership among veteran organisations.”
Under parliamentary privilege, independent senator Jacqui Lambie accused Bainbridge’s law firm, Operational Legal Australia, and a director, Paul-Raymond James, of exploiting veterans by overcharging them for legal advice. She told the Senate that they were “unethical cowboys” who had charged huge fees for incompetently delivered services. They have denied all allegations.
Lambie told the Senate that, “in the wake of the royal commission, we need stronger regulations and oversight of businesses that market themselves as veteran friendly or veteran owned”.
Unlike the vast majority of RSL members, who are now in their 70s, the average age of North Bondi RSL members was 37 years old.
And like Bainbridge, many of their 360 service members had served in Australian Regular Army units in Sydney, and many had been deployed to Afghanistan in combat roles.
Farquhar said: “This puts us in close relational proximity to Mick Bainbridge, who is a 40-year-old lance corporal who served in a Sydney-based unit and deployed to Afghanistan alongside numerous of our own North Bondi members.”
North Bondi members had been originally enthusiastic about Bainbridge’s nomination for president, and like Farquhar, many had voted for him.
“We thought he might bring a fresh perspective and relevant experience as a veteran of recent conflicts,” Farquhar wrote. Because of that early support, North Bondi “might now carry a heightened responsibility among sub-branches to initiate remedial action,” the email said.
A spokesperson for RSL NSW said the North Bondi branch did not represent the vast majority of its 30,000 members. And even if this sub-branch had wanted to move a motion to remove a director, there was a process, which would make it impossible for it to happen at the congress.
The spokesperson said there was also a process to remove a director of the board. They would need to make a request for a general meeting, which would have to be called by the District Presidents’ Council or by at least 10 per cent of members or 75 RSL sub-branches. If a meeting was called, it would need at least 10 per cent of RSL members or 75 per cent of members of RSL branches to pass.
In a statement to the Herald, Bainbridge said he always acted in accordance with his duties as a director and solicitor. “I make no apologies for fulfilling my role as president, ensuring RSL NSW always delivers vital support to veterans and their families now, and well into the future,” he said.
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