RSL stoush intensifies as state boss quits national board
The fledgling president of the state’s RSL has quit the league’s national board, as the political upheaval gripping the veterans’ charity continues.
The commemoration outside the RSL's SA headquarters. Photo: Tony Lewis / InDaily
Bronson Horan was voted president of the RSL’s SA branch in July after the resignation of long-serving boss Tim Hanna, with the troubled organisation steeped in a crisis after a boardroom exodus and voluntary administrators called in.
At a subsequent creditors meeting, the branch staved off closure after creditors voted for a property fire sale – despite, as InDaily revealed, the organisation’s national board voting for it to be liquidated instead.
Horan said at the time he believed “we’ve developed a relationship with RSL National [and] moving forward, they’re still going to remain proud supporters of RSL-SA”.
“It’s my job to win them over… I think I can do that,” he said in July.
But Horan – and his NSW equivalent James Brown – both wrote to RSL National yesterday offering their resignation from the board.
“With the endorsement of [state] Board, I [have] resigned as a director of RSL National,” he wrote in a letter obtained by InDaily.
“I have taken this step because I do not agree with the current direction being taken by RSL National on a number of matters and I do not believe that the current approach of the RSL National Board to such matters allows me to properly fulfil my obligations as a director.
“I must also give priority to the reforms necessary here in RSL SA.”
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Open in new tab The shock move comes just days after the resignation of newly-appointed RSL-SA CEO Corey Starkey – the second CEO to quit the post this year.
Horan said that “notwithstanding my resignation, RSL SA/NT remains a member of the company RSL Australia Limited and has reserved the right to reappoint me, or another director, to the board as and when it deems this appropriate”.
“Thousands of RSL volunteers across Australia work hard every day to help veterans and their families in need,” he wrote.
“They deserve nothing less than accountable and transparent leadership at the national level.”
Brown’s decision comes weeks after a NSW government inquiry into funds misuse within the NSW RSL wrapped up.
InDaily has sought comment from RSL National.
-additional reporting by AAP
