RACISM AND SUSPICION OF FRAUD WITHIN RSL
It has already been established that RSL Vic State President at the time David McLachlan was fiercely opposed to honouring the indigenous soldiers. When asked about the “no black bastard died for Australia” comment, he had said to Sam Halim: “Maybe they [those people] are right.”
Fast forward to February 21 2020, location: Perth, WA
RSL WA bans the raising of the aboriginal flag at Remembrance services, stating that it is “not appropriate.” You can read the full article here:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-02-21/rslwa-bans-welcome-to-country-aboriginal-flag-anzac-remembrance/11986324?utm_source=abc_news&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_content=link&utm_campaign=abc_news
WA Veterans Affairs minister calls it a “wrong decision” saying it was “out of step with the general community approach.”
To add insult to injury in surely what must be a national scandal, National RSL President Greg Melick is quoted as saying that it is “up to each state branch to represent the views of their members.” By taking this stance, the National president is effectively condoning the WA action because it is within his jurisdiction to override state branch decisions. A fierce public backlash resulted in the retraction of the decision two days later, NOT because the National President took any decisive action of his own.
Rewind to 2006, Healesville, Victoria
Given the inherent racist attitudes within the RSL, it was no surprise that RSL Vic president David McLachlan did everything he could to threaten Sam Halim not to start the process to honour the indigenous soldiers. As then president of the Healesville RSL, Sam Halim worked alongside aboriginal elder Aunty Dot Peters and together they held a reconciliation ceremony, in which the didgeridoo was played during the Ode. With the support of his committee, Sam then organised a formal dinner function at the RSL to honour the indigenous soldiers, followed by a second function at Sam’s family’s venue financed by the local shire and attended by the mayor Len Cox, aboriginal singer/songwriter Archie Roach, indigenous elders and other VIPs.
At the same time, instances of mismanagement and suspected fraudulent activity at the highest levels of the Victorian RSL establishment were starting to come to light. Minutes of a State Executive meeting received from an anonymous source by Sam Halim were forwarded by him to National RSL in accordance with RSL by-laws stating “What to do when you suspect fraud.” The document is attached here and labelled “Attachment 1”
Unfortunately, no action was taken by National RSL to investigate David McLachlan and his executives.
But news travelled throughout Victorian RSL sub-branches that Sam Halim had called David McLachlan out for suspicion of fraudulent activity, something David McLachlan denies in a letter penned by himself which is attached here and labelled Attachment 2.
Fast forward to the end of 2016: RSL NSW is under investigation of fraud
This article was published in February 2017. Interesting reading but not as interesting as the next part:
DAVID MCLACHLAN RESIGNS
David McLachlan hands over his position in February 2017 to his deputy Robert Webster. In his resignation notice in the RSL Vic Annual Report 2016, he does not cite a reason for his sudden departure.
He does however make a disclosure that “abnormalities in our accounting practices” had been uncovered in November 2016.
Fast forward to June 2018
ABC News publishes an article stating that David McLachlan received a $37000 Holden statesman car as a parting gift from Victoria RSL. It gets worse – the car was partly funded by charity money:
Of course, David McLachlan and Robert Webster strenuously deny any wrongdoing. They claim they did not know it was charity money.
And yet in the Annual Report, in his President’s Message, there is one whole paragraph entitled “Governance.” David McLachlan states that “during the year the Branch undertook a significant body of work to ensure our continued compliance with the requirements of the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission” as well as outlining a plan to roll out corporate governance training among the Sub-branches.
Despite doing “significant work” in these areas, he claims no knowledge of the money being from charitable money.
It is interesting that notably absent from the newspaper article is any reference to his AO postnominal, or Dr Webster’s OAM. Nor indeed any reference to Dr Webster’s FCPA qualification which would have more than qualified him to know whether the money was charitable or not.
Please don’t tell me that after 15 years in the role David McLachlan does not realise what constitutes charity money. And since when was it “established practice for state presidents to take their corporate car with them when they retired?” What precedent could there have been, when David McLachlan had been in the job 15 years?
Back in 2007 David McLachlan said he was not involved in fraudulent activity.
Sorry David, but ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS.
History will judge you accordingly.
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