Jacqui Lambie (Tasmania, Jacqui Lambie Network) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the New South Wales RSL. I'm told that Mick Bainbridge and Paul James have been involved in providing legal support to a claimant who was encouraged to take legal action against RSL LifeCare, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of the RSL in New South Wales. In another instance OLA left a veteran to fend for himself in court because the night before the court case was heard Mr James told him to 'cop it on the cheek' and that OLA wouldn't be representing him because the money had run out. What a disgrace!

I'm also terribly concerned about the treatment of veteran staff, especially females, and RSL board members by OLA involving bullying, harassment and intimidation. A former employee of OLA told me that Mr Bainbridge and Mr James both spoke about attempting to get a woman off the RSL New South Wales board because she was 'a feminist and a thorn in their side'. Another told me that Mr Bainbridge ran down a fellow RSL New South Wales director to his staff at OLA, saying she did not deserve to be on the RSL New South Wales board, had no qualifications and was a recipient of handouts she didn't deserve. This same woman attempted to raise issues affecting female veterans, and Mr Bainbridge got angry and told her: 'I don't have time for female effing veteran issues. I don't give a shit about female veterans.' I've also been told that Mr Bainbridge bullied one of his female legal staff members who was an ADF veteran. This included things that would amount to fat shaming by commenting on what she was wearing and eating.

It is completely and utterly unacceptable that directors of an organisation that exists to support veterans, whether they're male or female, have financial ties to a firm that has been accused of taking advantage of these very veterans. The leadership of RSL NSW must be held accountable for their failure. If they are not willing to root out this corruption and take a stand for vulnerable veterans then we as lawmakers must intervene. In the wake of the royal commission, we need stronger regulations and oversight of businesses that market themselves as veteran friendly or veteran owned.

I call for the following measures to be introduced immediately. Firstly, RSL Australia must investigate whether, in providing legal services to RSL NSW sub-branches, Operational Legal Australia actually delivered the services for which they were paid and whether the costs were appropriate and in accordance with industry standards. I want to know if the RSL NSW board has failed in its fiduciary duties to protect the organisation from this behaviour. Secondly, the Law Society of New South Wales should investigate the fee structure and approach to supporting veterans for legal services provided by Operational Legal Australia. I want to let the Law Society of New South Wales know that tomorrow or on Monday they'll be getting a heap of documentation on what I am talking about this evening, to make their job of investigating a lot easier. Thirdly, the Law Society of New South Wales must examine whether Mr Bainbridge and Mr James should have their practising certificates cancelled. Finally, RSL NSW should seriously consider if Mr Bainbridge and Mr James are fit and proper persons to be directors of RSL NSW and if they should hold positions on the board of RSL NSW.

We have an obligation and a duty to protect our veterans not only from external threats but from those within their own ranks who would seek to do them harm. Let me make this very clear: this is not about shutting down veteran owned businesses. To those businesses I say: most of you do a great lot of work out there. You're supportive, you're compassionate, you do the right thing, and you'll go above and beyond for your fellow veteran mates. We know that. But we also need to call out those businesses owned and operated by veterans that are not doing the right thing—the ones that are exploiting veterans and manipulating the RSL. This system needs to end. Our veterans deserve better. They deserve a system that truly supports them, businesses that uplift them and legal services that protect them, not a system that uses them as guinea pigs and exploits their pain and suffering for profit. Quite frankly, in response to what is going on RSL NSW, I say: you are atrocious. As to what is going on with you, Mick Bainbridge, I told you two years ago that I was onto you, and I am onto you, mate. The evidence is there. Honestly, what you are doing is shameful. I have called you out. The evidence is there. You are finished—both you and Mr James.