September RSL Monthly Newsletter

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Angeles City Sub Branch Philippines www.rslangelescity.com ‘Lest We Forget’

Clubhouse: Ponderosa Hotel President

James Curtis-Smith

Vice Presidents

Greg Mann Bob Barnes

Secretary Treasurer Editor

Dallas Drake Ron Parrott

Larry Smith

Email address’:

president@rslangelescity.com

secretary@rslangelescity.com treasurer@rslangelescity.com

editor@rslangelescity.com

NEWSLETTER # 66 ** SEPTEMBER 2012 PRESIDENTS REPORT September 2012 This month was dominated by the Committee’s deliberations on its relationship with the ACT Branch and recommendations subsequently put to the members at an Extraordinary Meeting held on September 18.

I reported to the members on the recommendations of the Committee at the meeting, and after discussion by many contributors at the meeting, it was resolved that the Sub Branch file a complaint with the National Executive of the conduct of the ACT Branch and its officers in accordance with Section 24 of the National Constitution. This will be done within the next week or so.

Apart from the outrageous increase in capitation fees payable by this Sub Branch to Branch for 2013 (from AUD$5.00 per member to either AUD$24.00 per member or AUD$30.00 per member, not sure yet), the Branch Constitution treats overseas Sub Branches as second class members (eg. denied direct representation on Branch Council).

2 I will keep members informed.

Our next Children’s Medical Mission is at Plaridel 1 (map on web page) on September 29. This is a week early from our usual first Saturday of the month and has been done to facilitate a visit of Australian nurses from South Australia, and who will assist and work with our usual teams from Angeles University Foundation, Holy Angel University and Our Lady of Mt. Carmel College of Nursing.

The site for the next mission is at a particularly poorer area of Angeles City and we anticipate large numbers. Please if you can assist, turn up at the site before 8.00am or at the Ponderosa by 7.30am if you need transport.

JAMES E. CURTIS-SMITH President ADMINISTRATIVE MATTERS We welcome the following new members: Service: Peter Edwards (QLD) * David Copper (QLD) Life Subscriber: Chris Weeks (VIC) * Daryl Rudd * Steve Robson (Zambales PI)

RSL EVENTS SCHEDULE * October 2012 Weekly CHARITY Raffle NOW EVERY Wednesday at Emotions Nite Club at 6.00 PM. Phillies Sports & Grill Raffle every Saturday at 6.00 PM.

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Saturday 29th September MEDICAL MISSION Plaridel 1 - its a basketball court called Plaridel 1 Open Space.

Tuesday 2nd October ‘ AUSTRALIA DAY FIESTA & General Committee 1.30 Ponderosa * 4.00pm TREASURE ISLAND Tuesday 9th October 2.00pm Ponderosa * Social Tuesday 3.00pm * Rocking Horse bar (for those that do not do the Subic Trip. Visit Subic RSL meeting plus overnight stay) Tuesday 16th October Monthly General Meeting 2.00pm Ponderosa * Social Tuesday * Lost in Asia, Blind Beggar * Silly Hat Tuesday 23rd October 2.00pm * Social Tuesday Ponderosa * 4.00pm * Thigh High * T & A Tuesday 30th October 2.00pm Social Tuesday Ponderosa * 4.00pm * Garfield’s * Drill Shack * Perimeter Sports Bar MEDICAL MISSION SATURDAY 3rd NOVEMBER * ANUNAS BARANGAY BASKET BALL COURT

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We are pleased to announce that our RSL Christmas cakes have arrived. As can be seen on the packaging, each cake costs ₱750.00. All are sourced from Australia and are made from good Australian ingredients.

These cakes are available now at Ponderosa Hotel, China Bank, Secretary Dallas’ home, Blue Rock (Baloy Beach) and soon at Jimmy & Rowena’s convenience store, Garfields and Emotions for a start.

As shown on the packaging, all funds raised from the sale will go directly into our charity account.

HERE IS YOUR CHANCE !!!!!!!

We have been producing this newsletter for more than five years now and have no plan to cease.

You, being the readers are being asked to comment on what is sent to you each month. We are asking you to be pro-active and give us an idea on what you want. Be critical if you have some criticism, but also give us an idea on what you want to see in the newsletter. Here is a list of what I, as the editor would like you to consider. The list is not exhaustive: a. b. c. d. e.

Are you quite happy with the layout of the newsletter.

Are you happy with the content, the information passed, and the articles presented.

Is the newsletter still relevant considering the other media we have available for our members.

Does the placement of sponsor advertising in the newsletter interfere with reading articles.

Is the timing for publication appropriate for you. We moved it to the end of the month as requested from a few members but is what the majority want. f. Are there other subjects that members would like to see in the newsletter. g. Members wish to put in notices and articles (don’t overwhelm me on this one) Please do send me any improvements that you wish to see. Send it direct to my email address: tassiedevil47@gmail.com and they will be collated and look at their merit. Ed

Some advice from our webmaster . Gerald has redesigned our website format and wants to install the new one.

He advises that on the 15th of October he will shut down the old site and install the new. This timeframe should be sufficient for readers to view this newsletter prior to shutdown. The shutdown should not take more than five days. I for one am looking forward to seeing what he has designed as our new website. Our old one has served us well but now appears jaded. Ed

4 COMMONSENSE AND RESPECT Our Sub Branch puts a lot of effort into getting sponsors to assist us in providing a service to our members. We put a lot of work into keeping them happy.

They manage to help us to raise funding for our charity activities to allow us to help those less fortunate than us and to improve our community status.

Many of them give consideration by way of discounts to ALL RSL members, so this means we ALL must respect what is given and support those businesses as best we can.

All we ask is that when attending a business which displays our RSL logo in their premises, show respect and produce your CURRENT membership card or you may be refused that discount.

When using the Southern Cross bus service, there is a

₱50.00 discount on a ticket to RSL members. This discount does not extend to wives or girlfriends or your ‘meaningful overnight relationship partner’ when they accompany you on the bus.

Some other RSL members have been demanding this discount for their ‘non- member’ accompanying them and when refused have argued with the bus staff over this small amount. This is disrespectful to the staff and the management of the bus.

The bus company donates free bus tickets (a significant donation) to every one of our raffles, so please do not disrespect this donation by being disrespectful to the bus staff.

Thursday, 20 September 2012

VETERAN PENSION RATE RISE ON 20 SEPTEMBER The Minister for Veterans’ Affairs, Warren Snowdon, announced that from today, 20 September 2012, there will be an increase in pensions and income support payments for around 305,000 veterans, partners, war widows and widowers around the nation.

“The bi-annual pension indexation process, which was improved by this Government in 2009 with the introduction of the Pensioner and Beneficiary Living Cost Index (PBLCI), underlines our commitment to providing the support veterans and their families need to cope with the increased cost of living.

“The increases I have announced today are part of this process, and will go a long way in helping out those that need it most,”Mr Snowdon said.

The first full pension payment at the new rates will be on pension

payday 18 October 2012.

5 The table below highlights the key changes to fortnightly rates.

Pension

Old Rate (per fortnight)

Service Pension—single Service Pension—couples

$755.50 $1,139.00 couple $569.50

War Widow Pension Income Support Supplement Special Rate (TPI) Pension Intermediate Rate Disability Pension Extreme Disablement Adjustment 100 per cent General Rate of Disability

New Rate Increase (per fortnight) 20 September $772.60 $17.10 $1,164.80 $25.80 couple $12.90 $582.40

each $765.60 $228.90 $1,154.20 $783.40

each $783.60 $234.40 $1,182.00 $802.30

$18.00 $5.50 $27.80 $18.90

$637.30

$652.70

$15.40

$410.10

$420.00

$9.90

Pensions are indexed twice a year in March and September by reference to the highest of three measures: the Consumer Price Index (CPI), the Pensioner and Beneficiary Living Cost Index (PBLCI) and Male Total Average Weekly Earnings (MTAWE).

Further information and a full list of the pension indexation rates are available from www.dva.gov.au or by calling 133 254 or 1800 555 254 from regional Australia. *****

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Thursday, 27 September 2012 VA082

WARNING FOR EARLY GALLIPOLI 2015 TOUR BOOKINGS The Minister for Veterans’ Affairs, Warren Snowdon, today urged the community to be wary of tour operators promising tickets to Centenary Anzac Day commemorations at Gallipoli in 2015.

Yesterday, Mr Snowdon announced joint plans with the New Zealand Government to hold a ballot for around 8,000 passes to Australians to attend the commemorations, as places would be limited.

“Tour operators are not in a position where they can guarantee a place at the commemorations,” he said.

“People who have already booked a tour to Gallipoli in 2015, which covers Anzac Day on the peninsula, should speak to their tour operators immediately.

“No tour operators should expect to receive passes from the ballot and should not promise their customers otherwise.”

Since 2010, DVA has been advising tour operators that they should not, in good conscience, advertise tours to Gallipoli in 2015, that guarantee access to the Dawn Service or other commemorative sites, until final arrangements regarding attendance at services were agreed by the Turkish, Australian and New Zealand Governments.

6 This advice has been posted on the DVA website since December 2010, briefings between the DVA and tour operators were also held in 2011. “The vast majority of people who visit Gallipoli do so as part of an organised tour, and there is no reason to expect that this would change in 2015,” Mr Snowdon said.

“Once the pass allocation process is complete, recipients should engage with their preferred tour operator to make travel arrangements.

“In other words, recipients of passes will still need a tour operator to take them to Gallipoli in 2015.

“All Australians will have the opportunity to register for the ballot and those who are successful will have enough time to make their travel arrangements.

“The Australian Government is committed to ensuring the commemorations at Gallipoli continue to be dignified and appropriate.”

More information on how the ballot will operate will be announced next year. A period of public consultation is now open until the end of November for the community to have their say on how Australia should be represented at the commemorations.

For more information on the ballot or to access the survey visit the Gallipoli 2015 website www.gallipoli2015.dva.gov.au. For more information on consumer rights visit http://australia.gov.au/topics/business-and-industry/consumer-rights

There has been much criticism about the ‘ballot’ system that has been introduced by the organizing committee. So much so, that a newspaper cartoonist has produced this cartoon as an illustration of this criticism.

Most see the ballot as a way to fill the area with politicians who are after another photo shoot opportunity. Ed

For those on the internet, the link below is a portfolio of photographs taken by famous US war correspondent Horst Faas. Many of our American members will be familiar with the scenes shown in these photographs. The narrative below is not mine. Ed Here are some photographs taken by a Viet Nam War photographer. Keep in mind these are photos of war events that flash through the minds as our soldiers fall asleep every night. Less than 1% of the United States population participated in this war but 100% of us benefited from their heroic efforts. What courage. Our greatest treasure – the American soldiers who are willing to fight in foreign wars to preserve our way of life and our freedom. http://blogs.denverpost.com/captured/2012/05/15/photographer-collection-horst-faas-vietnam/5689/#photo2

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PLENTY OF VACANCIES YET Whereas many RSL’s in Australia are finding things difficult with membership, due to demographics and different outlook and needs of younger defence members, we are still getting new members and we appreciate their applications for membership.

As we have written in past newsletters, we have our problems with higher echelon of the RSL but that will not affect the way we run our sub branch.

Many sub branches are forced to amalgamate to survive or close in Australia. We are not down there and we are cruising along very nicely.

We still reckon that anyone with intention of being in the ‘League’ for long time should consider ‘life subscription’.

Advantages include never having to remember to renew membership each year and never being caught up in fee increases.

Following our committee meeting on 4th September, annual subscriptions for 2013 are as follows: a. Current Life Subscribers. Absolutely no change at all. b. Service and Affiliate members who wish to remain as ACT Angeles City RSL Australia membership will be ₱2000.00 per annum (approx. ₱1400.00 , depending on exchange rates would be remitted to ACT Branch). c. Any member wishing to belong to Angeles City RSL supporters legion, not being part of RSL Australia, ₱700.00 per annum. (This is a separate identity with a different membership card, however current local privileges remain the same. Members wear the same shirt, attend same meetings, attend same functions etc). No further fees to ACT Branch. d. Members who no longer wish to be part of ACT Branch will be given some options to join another RSL Sub Branch in Australia at subsidised capitation rates (say $5.00) and then re-join Angeles City Sub Branch as associate members at ₱700.00. No further fees to ACT Branch. e. Life Subscriber rates are still available in 2012 at ‘special’rates. New rates for 2013 will see a huge increase.

At age 65 currently at ₱8360.00 to new predicted rate of ₱50.160, an increase of 600%. These rates are forced on us by ACT Branch. ***** *****

ADVANTAGES OF BEING AN RSL ANGELES CITY MEMBER Here are just a few advantages to being a member of Angeles City RSL Sub Branch: a. Qualify for a ₱12,000.00 funeral assistance payment after three years continuous membership. b. Free barangay ambulance for members c. Business house discounts etc. d. Welfare and experienced assistance on many things pertaining to living offshore. e. Mateship, attendance at events, fund raising, medical missions. f. Access to RSL merchandising items, eg, caps, mugs, beer wraps and towels, shirts and barongs. g. Being kept up to date on local and Australian matters by our newsletters, facebook and blog sites.

Bunny Burger now offers a quick takeaway counter for your convenience.

Call in and try it out.

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A LOOK INTO OUR PAST

Henry Bolte Sir Henry Edward Bolte GCMG (20 May 1908 – 4 January 1990) was an Australian politician. He was the 38th and longest serving Premier of Victoria.

Henry Bolte was born in Ballarat, the son of a publican of German descent (the family name was pronounced Bol-tee). He was to spend the first 24 years of his life (apart from three years at boarding school) in the small western district town of Skipton. He was educated at Skipton primary school and Ballarat Grammar School: he was the last Victorian Premier not to attend a university. After working in various manual jobs he married Edith Elder in 1934 and bought a small farm at Bamganie near Meredith, where he lived for the rest of his life, running sheep and cattle.

In 1940 Bolte joined the Australian Army and served as a sergeant with a training regiment until 1945. After the war he returned to farming and became active in the newly-formed Liberal Party. At the 1945 election he stood unsuccessfully for the seat of Hampden in the Victorian Legislative Assembly, but in 1947 he stood again and was elected Victorian politics was volatile at this time, with a succession of weak short-term governments. The electoral system was malapportioned in favour of rural areas, which gave the minority Country Party disproportionate power. As a rural Liberal, Bolte despised the Country Party nearly as much as the Labor Party. This came about when Albert Dunstan (Deputy Premier and leader of the Country Party) unexpectedly withdrew support for the Premier, Stanley Argyle, breaking the coalition agreement and forming a minority Country Party government, which Labor supported in return for some policy concessions in April 1935.

When Bolte was elected to Parliament in 1947 the Liberal leader was Thomas Hollway, who also came from Ballarat but was a much more liberal politician than Bolte. In 1951 Hollway tried to reform the electoral system, which caused a split in the Liberal Party and his replacement by Trevor Oldham, with Bolte as Deputy Leader. When Oldham was killed in an air crash on the way to the coronation of Elizabeth II in 1953, Bolte was elected leader.

The Labor Party under John Cain had come to power at the 1952 elections, but in 1955 the party suffered a split over the issue of communist influence in the trade unions, and Cain's government had fallen when a faction of anti-communist Catholics MPs voted against it in Parliament. Bolte won the 1955 elections with a huge majority, routing both Labor and the Country Party. He was able to form the first stable conservative government in Victoria for many years.

Bolte was a rough-hewn politician who liked to be seen as a simple farmer, but he had a shrewd political mind. He rapidly consolidated himself in power, helped by the expelled faction of the Labor Party, the Democratic Labor Party, which directed its second preferences to the Liberals at elections. His populist attacks on the trade unions, intellectuals, protesters and the press won him a large following.

Bolte was a proponent of using capital punishment as a deterrent against violent crime. Many believed he was foiled when Robert Peter Tait murdered the old woman of a Hawthorn vicarage and was sentenced to hang but was granted an eleventh-hour reprieve in 1962 after the High Court had found him insane.

9 Justice Starke subscribed to the substitute Tait theory, Starke had defended Tait but later on was the sentencing judge in the R v Ryan & Walker 1966. Starke said After Bolte was denied with Tait he simply waited for the next cab off the ranks, and poor Ryan happened to be the next cab!

In 1967, Bolte would not be denied; in 1965, two prisoners, Ronald Ryan and Peter Walker, had escaped from Melbourne's Pentridge Prison, killing a prison guard in the process. They were recaptured, and Ryan was sentenced to death for murder. Bolte had the power to recommend clemency, but declined to exercise it, arguing that the death penalty was a necessary deterrent for crime against government officials and law enforcement officers.

All calls for clemency, petitions and protests were to no avail. Bolte was determined that the law be upheld. Ryan was hanged in February 1967. Bolte had said "If I thought the law was wrong I would change it".

Bolte's insistence on having Ryan (pictured above) hanged earned him the opposition of the Melbourne press, particularly the The Age, the churches, the universities and most of the legal profession. It also alienated sections of the Liberal Party and some members of his own Cabinet, including his eventual successor, Rupert Hamer. But Bolte had correctly interpreted the populist appeal of his law-and-order stand, and at the 1967 elections the Liberals gained six seats. The Liberals went from 38 of 66 seats in 1964 to 44 of 73 in 1967.

On 24 March 1984, Bolte was involved in a serious head-on accident when he was driving home after an evening in the local hotel near his property at Bamganie. Bolte and the occupants of the other car were taken to the Ballarat Base Hospital, where blood samples were taken to test for alcohol levels. Whilst there was no evidence of alcohol in the blood of the other driver involved, there were indications of an alcohol content in excess of 0.05% in Bolte's blood.

Subsequently, further samples were collected from the hospital by the police, but these were found to have been substituted, and the sample box containing them had been unlocked by an unknown person. An enquiry found that it would have been unfair to proceed with prosecution because of interference with the evidence. Bolte later told Prior Of course I know nothing, I was unconscious.

DISCLAIMER The Angeles City Sub-Branch of the R&SLA, the Committee and the Editor take no responsibilities for any errors, omissions or inaccuracies contained in this newsletter. Nor do they accept any liability for loss or damage suffered directly or indirectly for use of information contained in this newsletter. Nor do they warrant that articles or opinions published in this newsletter are necessarily the opinions held by the Sub-branch, the Committee or the Editor

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This will put a smirk on your face. Can’t vouch for accuracy though, but a good story.

www.beyondtheblackstump.com

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PARAPROSDOKIANS...

(Winston Churchill loved them) are figures of speech in which the latter part of a sentence or phrase is surprising or unexpected; frequently humorous.

1. Where there's a will, I want to be in it.

2. The last thing I want to do is hurt you. But it's still on my list.

3. Since light travels faster than sound, some people appear bright until you hear them speak.

4. If I agreed with you, we'd both be wrong.

5. We never really grow up, we only learn how to act in public.

6. War does not determine who is right - only who is left.

7. Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

8. They begin the evening news with 'Good Evening,' then proceed to tell you why it isn't.

9. To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism. To steal from many is research.

10. Buses stop in bus stations. Trains stop in train stations. On my desk is a work station.

11. I thought I wanted a career. Turns out I just wanted paychecks.

12. In filling out an application, where it says, 'In case of emergency, notify:' I put 'DOCTOR.' 13. I didn't say it was your fault, I said I was blaming you.

14. Women will never be equal to men until they can walk down the street with a bald head and a beer gut, and still think they are sexy.

15. Behind every successful man is his woman. Behind the fall of a successful man is usually another woman.

16. A clear conscience is the sign of a fuzzy memory.

17. You do not need a parachute to skydive. You only need a parachute to skydive twice.

18. Money can't buy happiness, but it sure makes misery easier to live with.

19. There's a fine line between cuddling and holding someone down so they can't get away.

20. I used to be indecisive. Now I'm not so sure.

21. You're never too old to learn something stupid.

22. To be sure of hitting the target, shoot first and call whatever you hit the target.

23. Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.

24. Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.

25. Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.

26. Where there's a will, there are relatives.

And mine is........

I'm supposed to respect my elders, but it’s getting harder and harder for me to find one now !

The late distribution of this newsletter is regretted. We were waiting for a result from our submission to RSL HQ for publication but it has not arrived in time. Should be in the next newsletter.

The last three pages are of the Notice of Allegation that our Sub Branch sent to RSL National Headquarters concerning our administrating Branch. This is as a result of the extra-ordinary meeting that was held on 17th September.

“The price of liberty is eternal vigilance” Lest we forget

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