Editorial: MTA handled things badly

The Mount RSA bought over a $1000 worth of vouchers for their volunteers (with no expiry date printed on them) MTA have said they won't honour them.

A public relations nightmare is the best way to describe the actions of the Motor Trade Association over its handling of the RSA's expired gift cards.

This newspaper broke the story last Friday about how Mount RSA had bought $1140 worth of MTA gift cards but someone put them in a safe and they were forgotten.

Volunteers use the cards to visit sick and dying veterans and members in hospital and hospice, and the public fund them through donations.

Unfortunately they were discovered eight months after their expiry. The RSA asked for leniency but the MTA refused, essentially saying the rules are the rules.

The RSA described this as a "kick in the teeth" and rightly so.

Whoever made this decision at the MTA made a complete botch-up.

Rules may very well be rules but there are some organisations and some circumstances where common sense and a human approach overrides regulations.

In this instance, it is a no-brainer. The RSA has a well-regarded reputation and the fact this happened less than two weeks after Anzac Day - and the 100th anniversary of the Gallipoli landings - made it worse.

Another aggravating factor is the Mount RSA says it spends about $1500 on MTA gift cards each year so even putting the emotional aspect of this aside I would have thought it would have been a prudent business decision to look after the RSA as a valued customer.

We tried to get comment on Thursday from the MTA but none was forthcoming.

Within hours of our story becoming public on Friday the MTA told us it had changed its mind.

But the organisation has not even handled this well.

Instead of being totally transparent and telling the public what it has done to make amends, it has smoothed over the controversy with a confidential agreement.

Neither the MTA nor the RSA are prepared to say exactly how the problem has been fixed.

It's good the RSA is happy with the outcome because this is the most important thing but the secrecy around it is unacceptable given public money is involved.