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Speaker 1: Now the Darwin RSL has had its charter suspended after

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Speaker 1: multiple attempts to mediate disputes between committee members have failed.

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Speaker 1: The State branch stepped in a few weeks ago as

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Speaker 1: tensions escalated and it called on the Northern Territory government

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Speaker 1: to intervene and we're considering a range of options to

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Speaker 1: address the challenges.

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Speaker 2: Now.

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Speaker 1: The Sant branch President Dave Peterson joins me now to

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Speaker 1: give us a bit of an update on the situation.

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Speaker 1: Good morning to you.

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Speaker 2: Dave, Good morning Katie, Dave.

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Speaker 1: What is behind the disputes within the committee members?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so it is a long running challenge. It really

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Speaker 2: is really disappointing outcome. I must admit that we've reached

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Speaker 2: a point where we said it last few weeks ago.

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Speaker 2: You know, we couldn't even tell how many people were

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Speaker 2: on the committee. There was couldn't even agree on that,

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Speaker 2: and I think a loss of good faith between all

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Speaker 2: parties involved in the committee. And as a result, we've

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Speaker 2: suspended the charter of the RSL, so it's not an

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Speaker 2: RSL for the next ninety days and that they must

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Speaker 2: conduct new elections for new office holders to get a

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Speaker 2: new committee and move on from this. What is quite

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Speaker 2: a disappointing sort of history over the last of twelve months.

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Speaker 1: Dave, is this a pretty unprecedented move to have to

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Speaker 1: suspend them.

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Speaker 2: It is unprecedented in South Australia, Northern Territory in living

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Speaker 2: memory has happened in the past, but you know, not

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Speaker 2: in living memory. It is a significant move, there's no

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Speaker 2: doubt about that. But as far as the organization at

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Speaker 2: the state and national level c Darwin is a defense city,

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Speaker 2: it's a proud defense city. There's huge numbers of veterans,

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Speaker 2: huge numbers of serving members, and the RSL, if it's

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Speaker 2: going to put its name to something, needs to be

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Speaker 2: doing something meaningful and tangible to help our veterans and

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Speaker 2: the serving members of the ADF and their families. And

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Speaker 2: at the moment, because of this committee in fighting and dysfunction,

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Speaker 2: they're not achieving what the purpose of the RSL is

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Speaker 2: and as a result, that's why we have suspended their charter.

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Speaker 2: With a new committee and delivering on the purpose of

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Speaker 2: why the RSL exist. We're really confident that things in

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Speaker 2: Darwin will return to normal and that the RSL will

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Speaker 2: be a much stronger, proud of organization as a result,

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Speaker 2: and veterans and their families in the Darwin community will

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Speaker 2: actually be able to say, I know what the RSL

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Speaker 2: does for me.

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Speaker 1: Well, this is I think the really upsetting part is,

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Speaker 1: as you've said, we are a defense town. There is

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Speaker 1: no doubt about that, and to hear that this unprecedented

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Speaker 1: action has had to be taken is disappointing to say

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Speaker 1: the least. I mean, people expect that a committee can

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Speaker 1: work together for the best for territori andsarticularly our defense community.

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Speaker 1: So I mean you've alluded to that in fighting. Is

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Speaker 1: that the gist of it or is there more to

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Speaker 1: it than that.

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Speaker 2: No, Obviously everyone's much more familiar with sort of the

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Speaker 2: earlier efforts to re establish some facilities around Darwin. The

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Speaker 2: old clubs did burn down in twenty eighteen. As far

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Speaker 2: as the RSL at a state and national level, we

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Speaker 2: are a service provider to veterans, the serving community, and

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Speaker 2: their families, and we expect the organization, if they're going

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Speaker 2: to call themselves an RSL and want to be an RSL,

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Speaker 2: that they do something that actually makes a meaningful difference

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Speaker 2: on the ground. That may not look like what it

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Speaker 2: might have looked like in the past, but the expectations

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Speaker 2: of the organization have changed. The expectations are much more professional, consistent.

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Speaker 2: What you get in Darwin should be the same as

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Speaker 2: what you get in hob what you get in Darwin

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Speaker 2: should be the same as what you get in Perth.

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Speaker 2: And we're really keen to see the RSL reps turn

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Speaker 2: to that basis, and I'm very confident that we will quickly.

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Speaker 2: We'll have these elections. They'll be independently run. There's no

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Speaker 2: efforts by people down and Adelaide to skew this or

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Speaker 2: take any money. We actually want the opposite. We want

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Speaker 2: to free up that money so it can actually be

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Speaker 2: put to good use by the veteran community.

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Speaker 1: How has the current committee taken this news? I mean,

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Speaker 1: is there any threat of legal action by members or

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Speaker 1: anybody facing discipline reaction or anything like that.

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Speaker 2: We have made the decision not to proceed with discipline

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Speaker 2: reaction against individual members of the committee. That was a

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Speaker 2: very clear decision to just be upfront with that. In

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Speaker 2: terms of a legal challenge or whatnot, that where supremely

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Speaker 2: confident we have legal advice. This is all legal, lawful,

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Speaker 2: well within the rules of the constitution of the RSL.

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Speaker 2: When you sign up to the RSL. You sign up

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Speaker 2: to follow the rules of the RSL. The rules have

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Speaker 2: been challenged and not being complied with, and so as

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Speaker 2: a result, we've exercised some of those powers to put

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Speaker 2: a small ninety day pause. We will get the Northern

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Speaker 2: Territory government to provide us some advice on the best

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Speaker 2: way to proceed. We'll have some elections. All those who

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Speaker 2: wish to vote, who are service members of the RSL

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Speaker 2: in Darwin can vote, and then we move on. That's

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Speaker 2: how we see this. It's over Christmas anyway, Yeah, so

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Speaker 2: it kind of not much happening. It's sort of a

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Speaker 2: bit of a quiet time anyway that we see this

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Speaker 2: as the best option for the RSL moving forward in Darwin.

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Speaker 1: When are you anticipating that those elections are going to

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Speaker 1: be held for the RSL.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, we're working off sometime after Australia, so probably the

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Speaker 2: first weekend of February that would make the most amount

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Speaker 2: of sense. That also is within the ninety days, and

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Speaker 2: that allows us some procedural time to run an election.

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Speaker 2: We're not there's not a state deal territory election. This

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Speaker 2: is a simple election of a committee of an incorporated

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Speaker 2: body with some advice from the government, and following that advice,

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Speaker 2: I'm really confident that the first week of February this

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Speaker 2: will all be done in dusted.

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Speaker 1: What if ice are you waiting for from the government.

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Speaker 2: So we have been very fortunate the Northern Territory Government

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Speaker 2: has provided the RSL with the Governance Advisor, who will

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Speaker 2: be to assist us. This is not administration. Be really

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Speaker 2: clear about that. The committee can continue to function only

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Speaker 2: with the written approval of the State branch, so the

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Speaker 2: higher headquarters, and we're confident that that will allow keep

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Speaker 2: the lights on, keep the doors open as required. But

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Speaker 2: that election is the priority. To get that done and

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Speaker 2: dusted and then move on.

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Speaker 1: All right. I'm keen to also ask you where are

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Speaker 1: things at with the clubhouse or the club for the RSL,

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Speaker 1: because it has been five years since fire destroyed that

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Speaker 1: building and there's still no RSL. A lot of people

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Speaker 1: questioning why it is taking so long.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, So I think the main question here is a

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Speaker 2: bigger one. It's a much more higher level conversation. If

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Speaker 2: you and I think, and I've spoken at length with

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Speaker 2: others about this, if we think the Darwin RSL is

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Speaker 2: the best position RSL in all of Australia in twenty

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Speaker 2: twenty three or twenty four. To think about, if you're

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Speaker 2: building burned down and you had some funds that was

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Speaker 2: from the insurance to rebuild, what would you rebuild? Would

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Speaker 2: you rebuild a club? Well, I think that's pretty clear.

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Speaker 2: We don't build clubs. The RSL is not a club,

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Speaker 2: it's a sub branch. That's a term. We don't build clubs.

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Speaker 2: We're not a commercial hospitality provider. If you were, if

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Speaker 2: the clubs were, if the club rooms were burned down

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Speaker 2: in right now, what would we rebuild. I think we

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Speaker 2: would rebuild something that delivers an ongoing income stream for

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Speaker 2: the sub branch to continue to support veterans into the future.

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Speaker 2: Probably looks like a bit of a mixed commercial versus

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Speaker 2: and sub branch facility. I don't think that looks like

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Speaker 2: a commercial hospitality venue. Just like many others, me and

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Speaker 2: my mates were veterans. I'm thirty seven. If I wanted

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Speaker 2: to have a view with my mates, I'll go to

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Speaker 2: the I'll go to a pub and have a beer

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Speaker 2: with my mate. We don't need to recreate the wheel here,

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Speaker 2: but what we do need is a place for veterans

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Speaker 2: to feel safe and secure and to support them with

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Speaker 2: whatever challenges that they face. Not another venue for commercial

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Speaker 2: hospitality is that.

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Speaker 1: Where there's maybe a difference of opinion here though, where

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Speaker 1: there is people that you know within the RSL, or

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Speaker 1: within the community here in Darwen, within the defense community

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Speaker 1: here in Dawen, where they do actually want a hospitality venue.

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Speaker 2: I do think this is at the core the misunderstanding

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Speaker 2: or the source of conflict. There is I think a

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Speaker 2: very strong, vibrant veteran in the community that looking for

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Speaker 2: somethink more than a commercial hospitality venue. Darlin already has

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Speaker 2: lots of places to go to experience the hospitality. What

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Speaker 2: Darwin doesn't have right now is a place for veterans

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Speaker 2: to go that they can call home, feel safe and

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Speaker 2: be supported by their mates and the wider community ongoing.

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Speaker 2: And so that is I think really the ideological battle

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Speaker 2: that's been spought here is would we rebuild what we

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Speaker 2: had or would we build something different? I think very

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Speaker 2: clearly the answer is something different. The expectations of veterans

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Speaker 2: these days is much more aligne to where the state

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Speaker 2: branch is thinking and the national branch is thinking than

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Speaker 2: perhaps a commercial hospitality venue.

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Speaker 1: And who will ultimately decide that. I mean, will it

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Speaker 1: be this newly elected committee or is it going to

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Speaker 1: be a situation where the state branch steps in over

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Speaker 1: the top and says, no, that's not what we want.

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Speaker 2: Very happy to provide the advice that the membership, through

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Speaker 2: their elections, will be able to make these decisions. Certainly

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Speaker 2: we would provide our guidance and advice on that. But

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Speaker 2: I think this unprecedented step in by the state branch

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Speaker 2: is a temporary one only to allow the members to

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Speaker 2: make this decision. We have a situation where you can't

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Speaker 2: join the RSL in Darwin right now because the committee

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Speaker 2: is not functioning. That's unacceptable that a veteran who had

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Speaker 2: served their nation proud they kin'd of enjoined the RSL

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Speaker 2: because the committee is not functioning. So let's give those

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Speaker 2: people a voice, Let's give those people a vote, and

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Speaker 2: let's have an election, and then we'll just see what

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Speaker 2: democracy gives us. I fought for democracy, many veterans in

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Speaker 2: Darwen for democracy, and let's bring it into the RSL

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Speaker 2: here and doing well.

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Speaker 1: Please keep us up to date with where things are

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Speaker 1: at when it comes to those elections. I really appreciate

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Speaker 1: your time this morning, Dave, thanks so much for having a.

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Speaker 2: Chat with me their problems. Thanks Katie, thank you