A group of people attending New Plymouth's Anzac Day dawn service manually lift a car before proceedings could begin. Video / Reuben Doyle
The Auckland district RSA president has been removed from the national Presidents’ Forum after complaints.
He is alleged to have told an employee she could sit on his knee.
GrahamGibson’s supporters say his removal was an overreaction and the comment was made in ‘jest’.
The national RSA chief executive stands by its action, says Gibson’s exit was voted on by other clubs.
The RSA’s national office has kicked the Auckland district president off its national forum, saying veteran Graham Gibson has been found to have breached its code of conduct.
In a message to members this week, NZRSA president Sir Wayne “Buck” Shelford said Gibson had failed to meet the organisation’s“highest ethical standards of behaviour”.
Gibson’s axing from the Presidents’ Forum followed complaints by three women who are employees at the national office, the Herald has learned.
With seating limited, Gibson is said to have told a woman she could sit on his knee, leading to a complaint.
Gibson is unwell and not commenting but supporters - such as Auckland RSA vice-president Keith Ingram and former Canterbury RSA stalwart Stan Hansen - say his sacking from the forum over a poorly chosen comment in “jest” was followed by a “kangaroo court”.
They said in their cases it felt like the process was weaponised to quell their dissenting voices, because they raised concerns about the national body’s new constitution, management style and direction.
Auckland RSA president Graham Gibson has been accused of inappropriate behaviour.
That’s a claim the RSA national office rejects, saying the complaints committee only makes recommendations with the outcome based on a vote by those on the presidents’ forum representing local RSAs from across the country.
The stoush comes amid long-running turmoil in the RSA movement.
More than 100 individual clubs and associate members’ groups have been asked by the national office to focus on veteran wellbeing as their guiding principle.
But some of the groups consider veterans to be just one of a range of community groups they support.
Others share the vision but reject what they consider to be a “command and control” approach from the national office.
The move has coincided with the RSA national body leading a rewrite of its constitution and then the constitutions of individual RSAs – in line with new legal requirements – which has also sparked dissent.
Gibson has been vocal about maintaining the independence of local RSA clubs and districts.
He has raised concerns about the constitution rewrite, and what he has called a “command and control” approach by the national office to push through change.
He told the Herald in December the Auckland RSAs were among about 25 clubs considering abandoning the national body altogether, based on “lost confidence”.
“When you stand up to head office and say, ‘Have you thought about this?‘, it’s either my way or the highway,” he said.
The complaints lodged about Gibson with the national office were from three women employed there.
Shelford – ‘inappropriate and offensive’
In a message to members this week, Shelford said Gibson had failed to meet the organisation’s “highest ethical standards of behaviour”.
Shelford wrote: “The RNZRSA code of conduct requires the highest ethical standards of behaviour, and especially so from our leadership. The forum decided Mr Gibson’s behaviour did not meet those ethical standards and was in serious breach of the code of conduct.”
The email to clubs said the decision to remove Gibson from its forum followed a “comprehensive investigation” after a complaint was made on October 29, about two weeks after the event at which Luxon spoke.
It said the complaints committee had engaged external investigator Andrena Patterson, an independent workplace investigator, who carried out “a fair, thorough, and impartial investigation”.
Cenotaph guard cadet Katy Statham of the Air Training Corps at the Anzac Day dawn service in Whangārei in 2019. Photo / Tania Whyte
“Based on its findings, the RNZRSA complaints committee upheld the complaint, which involved inappropriate and offensive behaviour by Mr Gibson and recommended to the Presidents’ Forum that Mr Gibson be removed.”
While deemed to have breached the RNZRSA’s code of conduct, the matters described as “inappropriate and offensive” were not at a criminal level, the Herald has been told.
The complaints committee’s recommendation was voted on by the forum – comprising RSA presidents from across the country – with a vote held on Monday evening that sealed Gibson’s fate.
It said Gibson was “given an opportunity to make representation to the forum in writing or in person but opted not to do so”.
Shelford’s email said the complaint was not about the rewrite of the constitution or other internal issues “but simply about inappropriate and offensive behaviour”.
Ingram said the vote on Gibson was a “similar kangaroo court” to the one he faced when he was ejected from the presidents’ forum late last year in his role as delegate for the NZRSA affiliate clubs.
The complaint about Ingram was that he had made disparaging comments about former RNZRSA chairman Martyn Dunne.
Ingram claims he faced “90 minutes of embarrassing and contrived accusations” before being voted out. “All this because ... they did not like being held to account over missing poppies monies.”
The concerns were raised after poppy funds were placed in one central account before being transferred to other areas.
Ingram, a member of RSA clubs for more than 50 years, believes Gibson’s hearing was “a similar hanging event” to his own.
He said Gibson had not been able to attend, had provided a 10-day medical certificate and was unable to defend his position at the forum.
RSA could implode – Gibson supporter
Ingram said the vote to remove himself and Gibson followed hearings into – and departures of – at least six others involved in the RSA movement over the past six years.
In his opinion, “anyone who stands up against the board or for our veterans’ rights” faces becoming the focus of a complaint and investigation.
Gibson’s removal from the forum “creates a major schism” in the RSA movement.
With RSA clubs existing as independent bodies, he said Gibson would remain president of the Auckland RSA, and as district president, and as the national president of the National Vietnam Veterans’ Association.
“The RNZRSA stands to lose more than Auckland,” he said, adding that in his view there was a risk of the organisation “imploding”.
RSAs across the country are being asked to support the national body's new constitution - a move that has caused friction among clubs.
Canterbury RSA’s former vice-president Stan Hansen – who resigned on Sunday – said he was one of those who had been scrutinised by the complaints committee on matters that never went further. One issue “disappeared” and the other was withdrawn, he said.
“I’ve experienced that. It was a very tiring, degrading experience.” He said he felt the process was punitive and aimed at those who spoke out against the national office.
Hansen said there was historical poor behaviour among NZRSA leadership that had not been acted on, whereas recent perceived wrongdoing had come under focus from the complaints committee.
In relation to Gibson and Ingram being removed from the forum, he asked: “Is it a coincidence that we’re in the middle of debating about changing the constitution and two of the people who were against the change are suddenly gone?”
Hansen said he had resigned after efforts to rally support for Gibson among the districts were rebuffed.
He said he raised questions as to whether removing him from the forum was the best solution when probation and education would have been better than removal.
It would have allowed him to continue his involvement, while the movement continued to benefit from his contributions, he said.
“We know how Graham can be. He can be a bit rough, he’s in his 70s and gets things wrong every now and again.”
Hansen recalled a wisecrack from Gibson when they parted company after the October event. It was off-colour and in jest - it was the same rough humour which saw Gibson brought before the forum.
“He would be one of the most compassionate people I have ever met and has done [a lot] for veterans over many decades. It was a total over-reaction.”
NZRSA chief executive Evan Williams said situations which prompted inquiries by its complaints committee were then voted on by the Presidents’ Forum – meaning decisions were in the hands of those voted in to lead RSAs across the country.
“When we have a code of conduct we do need people to abide by it,” he said.
“There were times in the past when that might not have occurred but the organisation’s approach in recent years was to adopt an approach that reflected its rules.”
Major General (retired) Evan Williams accompanies the Governor-General Dame Cindy Kiro to the parade grounds at Burnham Army Camp last October. Photo / George Heard
Williams said he had written to the Auckland RSA board asking it to select an interim president who could fill Gibson’s role on the forum and then elect a new, permanent president.
He said Auckland’s RSA needed to be represented by a president which could not be Gibson.
The national body had no power to do more than ask because each RSA is an independent organisation, he said.
He said he had respect for Gibson and his contribution to veterans’ causes but he could not continue to attend the Presidents’ Forum after the vote to exclude him.
He said if the Auckland district was determined to retain Gibson as president “then they have a problem because that voice can’t be heard in that forum”.
Williams rejected any misspending of poppy funds. He said a review carried out ensured the money went where it was intended – to support veterans – but there would be greater transparency in the future.
He also rejected claims of “command and control” - a military term he said had no place in not-for-profit or civilian business sectors.
David Fisher is based in Northland and has worked as a journalist for more than 30 years, winning multiple journalism awards including being twice named Reporter of the Year and being selected as one of a small number of Wolfson Press Fellows to Wolfson College, Cambridge. He joined the Herald in 2004.
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