Bombshell emails reveal RSA feuding
Explosive emails have laid bare turmoil in the upper ranks of one of New Zealand’s oldest and most respected institutions, the 104-year-old Returned and Services Association (RSA).
Correspondence obtained by the Sunday Star-Times shows chief executive Karen Rolleston saying in a fiery email to RSA Auckland president Graham Gibson that she had ‘‘never seen an organisation so intent on selfdestruction’’.
Her comments, which followed emails from Gibson and others to Rolleston and various senior RSA figures, shed light on internal turmoil in the welfare organisation for returned service people.
The emails also show Rolleston, a career chief exec and board member who has been in the job for less than a year, saying the RSA was failing because of infighting and political squabbling.
‘‘I have spent more time... fighting internal battles and RSA politics than anything else. This is the only reason the RSA movement is failing! Everyone needs to take a good long look in the mirror and stop blaming everyone else.’’
The Star-Times understands the divisions in the RSA are broadly between the chief executive and board on one side, and the Presidents’ Forum, consisting of the heads of district RSAs, on the other.
RSAs across the country have struggled in recent years.
The Christchurch Memorial RSA has proposed selling its new $8 million headquarters amid allegations of mismanagement.
Meanwhile, the coronavirus pandemic forced the cancellation of the annual Poppy Appeal for the first time in more than 100 years.
Sources say Covid-19 exposed the RSA’s ‘‘broken’’ and outdated funding models.
One source described the continued reliance on cash donations as ‘‘archaic’’.
An email from Gibson to various senior RSA figures on May 25 showed he felt left out of the loop on how Givealittle donations were to be dispersed to the districts.
‘‘I can’t speak for my fellow presidents, but I for one am feeling a bit like a ‘mushroom’, we seem to be kept in the dark and advised only on a ‘need to know basis’ on matters pertaining to our organisation,’’ he wrote.
He went on to say there was a ‘‘total lack of confidence [and] trust’’ between senior RSA leaders ‘‘which does not go unnoticed by the greater membership’’.
RSA chief executive
A subsequent email from another RSA president echoed Gibson’s concerns about a lack of faith in its leadership.
That email came in response to Rolleston sharing the social sector accreditation standards the RSA is working towards, in order to apply for government funding in a similar way to the Salvation Army or St John, and which is proving controversial in some RSA circles.
‘‘I know some of you will consider this to be nonsense and overly PC, however this is the world we live in and if we wish to have credibility and apply for government funding, this is what we have to do,’’ she wrote.
‘‘We no longer live in the amateur world. This will also give us more mana in advocacy matters.’’
RSA Canterbury district president Stan Hansen said in his emailed response the efforts were worthy.
But they would not work unless the movement made more efforts to involve younger veterans, on their terms, he wrote.
‘‘We cannot conduct our accepted responsibilities now, and I am sure younger veterans will not seek assistance, in whatever form that be, from the silly old buggers that frequent the RSA.’’
In his reply, Gibson acknowledged the organisation needed to change.
But he said it should engage in more lobbying of the Government for funding of veterans’ groups.
Gibson did not supply the correspondence and when contacted said he would prefer if the emails were not made public – the StarTimes has agreed not to name the source of the correspondence.
Speaking to the Star-Times, Gibson, a Vietnam veteran, said the organisation needed to work to become relevant.
Key to that was engaging young veterans, a problem that has bedevilled the RSA for decades, in his view.
‘‘I know how bad it was when I returned from Vietnam, the RSA didn’t really want to know me. We haven’t learnt the lessons.’’
‘‘There is a generation of veterans coming behind us that also need to be looked after.’’
In an emailed statement, Rolleston did not resile from her comments to Gibson that the organisation was riven with internal battles and seemed set on self-destruction.
‘‘We are all passionate people who often get frustrated that we are not achieving our vision as fast as we would like.’’
The Givealittle pages raised just under $300,000 but the RSA has not received payment yet, she said.
Rolleston said there were several young RSA presidents who were ex-service or currently serving, and it also provided support at hubs at Burnham, Linton and Trentham military camps.
‘‘Of the advocacy work we do on behalf of our individual veterans to ensure they get their entitlements, 80 per cent are under the age of 50.
‘‘It does the RSA great injury to suggest that we do not reach out to younger veterans.’’
‘‘Everyone needs to take a good long look in the mirror and stop blaming everyone else.’’ Karen Rolleston