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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2008-09-10 Daily Xml
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BRIGHTON RSL AND BRIGHTON BOWLING CLUB

Ms FOX (Bright) (16:17): I rise to speak today about the RSL in South Australia and congratulate my local branch, the Brighton RSL, and its very close co-tenant, the Brighton Bowling Club. I recognise that in this house there are two returned servicemen, and they are the member for Waite and the member for Mount Gambier. The RSL has, of course, in recent years struggled to gain new members, and this is quite natural in that many of the elderly service men and women are passing on. However, there are many younger potential members from different theatres of conflict who at this point are not joining the RSL.

The RSL in this state has a very long and honourable history. It was established, I believe, in September 1916 and currently has about 14,000 members; that includes the Northern Territory as well as Broken Hill. Everyone who has had occasion to spend time with people from the local RSL will know that this is a group of very extraordinary people, and it is a group of people who have taught me quite a lot. I think the first thing I learnt from returned service people is that no soldier really ever wants to go to war. That is a very valuable lesson, especially for a politician.

The Brighton RSL recognised there were problems getting new members. They had a bowling green and a bowling club and, very nearby, was the Brighton Bowling Club (which, obviously, also has a bowling green), and the two clubs decided to get together and co-relocate, if you like, to become co-tenants. The Brighton Bowling Club went through a period when it built a big, new, very flash building, and it built that with the RSL. The RSL has moved into that building and they share it together now. It is a custom-built building. They share the bowling greens, and it seems to be an arrangement that is working out very well.

It has given new life, I think, to the RSL. I had the great privilege of being invited to attend the annual RSL dinner (the Dug Out Dinner) last Friday night. There were 160 people, the biggest dinner I have been to at the RSL in Brighton.

The feeling there was extremely positive. The members of the bowling club and the RSL were there. They were all getting along sharing really superb new facilities, and it seems to be working. The new premises has its official opening this Sunday. I have been going to the RSL now for nearly three years, and I saw things in the new building that I have never seen before. My local RSL had an astonishing collection of memorabilia that dated back to the First World War, including some extremely moving letters from local people which had never been displayed at all. I was able to stand and read them and to look at the various things there beautifully presented in astonishing new premises.

I really do wish them all the very best. I would like to congratulate the bowling club on being so welcoming to the RSL. I would like to congratulate the RSL for being very forward looking, for moving into a very new kind of situation, and to working very hard to make it happen. I would also like to point out that, to my knowledge, it is perhaps the only RSL/bowling club that has a massive disco ball, which I think can only be a very good harbinger for future activities in that place. Thank you very much.

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