Message from the State President with unanimous endorsement of RSL Victoria’s State Executive
Recent discussion about Welcome to Country and Acknowledgement of Traditional Owners and ANZAC Day has generated strong views across parts of the RSL network.
Strong views are not a problem. Inaccurate claims and disrespectful conduct are.
I want to make RSL Victoria’s position clear.
RSL Victoria will be using Welcome to Country or Acknowledgement of Traditional Owners at its own events.
RSL Victoria has not mandated the inclusion of a Welcome to Country or Acknowledgement of Traditional Owners at Sub-Branch ANZAC Day services.
It has not directed Sub-Branches to change their local ceremonies. It has not imposed any new statewide ceremonial requirement.
Sub-Branches remain responsible for the conduct of their own commemorative services, guided by established RSL ceremonial protocols.
Those protocols concern the core commemorative elements of ANZAC Day, including Stand To, the Ode, the Last Post, Silence, Reveille and Stand Down.
A Welcome to Country or Acknowledgement of Traditional Owners, where included, is a matter for the relevant organisers. It is not mandatory.
RSL Victoria supports the right to include and equally recognises that other organisers may choose not to do so.
The Dawn Service at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne is also a state ceremony involving a range of parties and senior speakers.
RSL Victoria does not control every aspect of that ceremony, nor does it direct what the Governor, Ministers or other invited speakers may say. Doing so is neither practical nor appropriate.
My concern, and the concern of many others, is with conduct.
Booing, heckling or deliberately disrupting a commemorative event is not acceptable. It shows disrespect to those attending, disrespect to those conducting the ceremony, and disrespect to the veterans and families for whom ANZAC Day carries deep meaning.
This matter should also be approached with an understanding of service.
Indigenous Australians have served in Australia’s military forces for more than a century. Many did so at times when they and their communities were denied proper recognition and respect.
Today, Indigenous Australians continue to serve in the Australian Defence Force. Their contribution is part of our military history and deserves acknowledgement.
What we will not tolerate is overt disrespect towards Indigenous Australians, Indigenous service, or any other group within our veteran community.
The RSL is a veteran organisation. It must be capable of recognising service across diverse backgrounds, cultures, and generations.
Military service teaches us that people from diverse backgrounds can stand together, serve together, and rely on one another. That sense of unity should guide how we conduct ourselves on ANZAC Day and how we speak to one another within the League.
Racist, sexist, discriminatory, derogatory, or demeaning conduct towards Indigenous Australians, members of culturally or linguistically diverse communities, religiously diverse groups, veterans, members, staff, volunteers, or community participants is unacceptable within RSL Victoria.
Those who wish to debate ceremonial practice should do so respectfully and on the facts.
Claims that RSL Victoria has imposed a statewide change are wrong.
Calls to ban local organisers from including a Welcome to Country or Acknowledgement of Traditional Owners are inconsistent with the same local autonomy that many Sub-Branches rightly value.
ANZAC Day belongs to those who served and to the community that gathers to remember them.
Our responsibility is to protect the dignity of that commemoration, not to allow it to become a platform for division, discourtesy, or abuse.
Dr Mark Schröffel
State President, RSL Victoria
