Darwin RSL sub-branch committee disbands over club direction

THE Darwin RSL sub-branch committee has voted to dissolve itself citing conflict over the future direction of the club

RSL SA/NT chief executive Kim Henshaw

THE Darwin RSL sub-branch committee has voted to dissolve itself, citing conflict over the future direction of the club.

RSL NT chief executive Kim Henshaw said he and Territory president Bronson Horn would take over management of the club and service delivery for members until fresh elections could be held in March.

“The committee here couldn’t decide on a future direction for the organisation, there was conflict between various members of the committee so they basically disbanded once that happened,” he said.

“Under those circumstances the responsible state branch is required to step in and assume the management until fresh elections for a new committee can be organised.”

Mr Henshaw said the dispute came down to disagreement between the majority of committee members who wished to focus on veterans’ services and “a small group” whose priority was to maintain business operations “at all costs”.

“There are some people who are very keen on promoting the idea that the RSL should be all about a club and there are others, I guess the majority of people within the membership, who believe in the five guiding principles of the RSL which are advocacy, welfare, commemoration, mateship and sustainability,” he said.

“That’s what the RSL is built on, for 102 years we’ve been doing that stuff and the majority of the membership want to see that continue.”

Fresh elections will be held at the club’s annual general meeting next year and Mr Henshaw said in the meantime he and Mr Horn would do their best to ensure “business as usual” for veterans.

Meanwhile, Mr Henshaw said he had met with engineers on site at the Darwin clubhouse which was destroyed by fire in June and work was continuing to establish its future.

“The site’s finally been cleared of asbestos and so we did an inspection of the site, basically to establish whether or not the first floor slab was suitable for rebuilding,” he said.

“(The engineers) are a little concerned about some of the areas of the slab and have asked for core sample to be taken which they will review and then give their expert opinion about whether the site is capable of being rebuilt or whether it needs to be demolished.”