The Gunnedah RSL sub-Branch is advocating for the reinstatement of a long-running wellbeing provision in the Australian Defence Force.
For more than a century, Salvation Army Red Shield Defence Services have provided front-line emotional support, moral reinforcement, and psychological reprieve in times of conflict, training, and operational stress.
But moves by the Australian Government to reduce funding for this service have been described by Gunnedah RSL sub-Branch president Anthony Adams as a serious erosion of the defence force’s non-clinical support framework.
“[The Sallyman Program’s] quiet but powerful presence has played a vital role in maintaining morale and resilience across generations of Australian service personnel,” he said.
“Discontinuing funding to such a low-cost, high-impact program undermines the government’s stated commitment to improving Defence wellbeing and suicide prevention outcomes.
“RSL NSW, through its mandate to advocate for the welfare of veterans and service members, must take immediate and coordinated action to have this decision reversed.”
He said the reduced funding was inconsistent with the findings and recommendations of the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide, which identified the need for enhanced holistic and early intervention wellbeing services for both serving and ex-serving members.
Mr Adams said the sub-branch is calling for the immediate reinstatement of federal funding for the Sallyman Program; and the permanent embedding of Red Shield Defence Services as an endorsed, government-supported wellbeing partner within Defence establishments, consistent with a whole-of-life approach to veteran and service member support.
RSL Australian national president, Greg Melick, said the funding cut was a “major disappointment” and urged the government to reconsider and do all it can to ensure the Sallyman service continues.
