The Last Post Podcast - Interview with National President Peter Tinley

Greg Ross of The Last Post Podcast interviewed Peter Tinley about his new role as RSL President and his vision for the League. The following is an excerpt from the interview.  

Listen to the full podcast here. 

Greg Ross: Peter, you've had a combination of military service, business leadership, and political experience. How did all of that prepare you for your role now as the newly elected president? 

Peter Tinley: Well, it's funny, you know, it's a collision of worlds. Everything before this has been preparation for this, my time in business, my time in uniform, including operational service in Afghanistan and Iraq, 15 years in the State Parliament of Western Australia, and a period of time as a Minister in the first Labor government here - that was really a different experience. Political leadership is quite different from military leadership, and it's a lot of herding of cats and that sort of thing, but it's deeply rewarding, particularly as a state member, because you're close to citizens. After the last state election here, I decided not to go again. I started a consultancy, doing Defence industry work and energy transition with some clients, but then I got asked to consider running for National President of the RSL, having, I might add, promised my wife that I would never be on another ballot paper. 

Greg Ross: Oh, well, we're glad you did, because you bring a breath of fresh air. Do you see your role as being fundamentally or marginally different from what we've experienced in the last 20 years or so? 

Peter Tinley: You know, these things are evolutionary - and try not to be revolutionary, because that means something went wrong. A 109-year-old organisation, with over 1,100 sub-branches across the country, there's almost a conferred moral obligation to make sure you're stepping into the size and scale of what you are and helping all veterans, not just, obviously, RSL members.

There can't be radical shifts, but we've got to improve, and I've got a great foundation to work from.

Greg Melick, my predecessor, had to deal with a lot of internal challenges, organisational challenges, and get some good governance rolling, and that seems to have got me off on the right foot in that sense, and so I'm really grateful for that.  

For me, “Big A” (National) Advocacy is my main thrust - making sure that we're creating a space for all veterans, and making sure they are properly represented, not just to government or to the agencies, the obvious ones like DVA, but there's a whole community aspect to this that we can get into. 

Greg Ross: Due to your military service, you really align with a lot of the younger veterans that are becoming more of the ratio of the RSL these days, purely because of the age factor, but you saw military service in Lebanon, Syria, Bougainville, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Do you feel akin to those that you're representing? 

Peter Tinley: Well, I do, and this is the other thing I always say, we've had 20-plus years of continuous operational activity, as we all know, and both everything from peacekeeping through to warlike service, and one of the things I'm really at pains to say, if you're a veteran, you're a veteran, that's the front and back of the story. 

Your service is not relevant to your entitlement, if you like, to be a veteran and walk amongst the community. 

And as I say, and I say this quite often, it's not for the service you gave, it's for the service you were prepared to give, up to and including full measure.

And it's that commitment, when you sign up to become a member of the Defence Force, that you're actually transferring the obligation, and I suppose the gift, of unlimited liability. 

And so, my service is my service, but it's no less or more than anybody else's service, regardless of the colour of the uniform or the service they did. 

Greg Ross: Yeah, very well said. Peter, I did note that you were Deputy Commander of Special Forces Task Groups following 9-11. That must have been a pretty heated time to be in that role. What was that like? 

Peter Tinley: Well, I'm sure those people who were around at the time all remember where they were when those planes went into the Twin Towers. I was in another room. My wife said, “You should come and have a look at this”. It was about 10 o'clock Perth time. And I saw this happen, and I went straight to work. I was the current operations officer with SAS. I said, there will be a response, I just knew there would be something going on here. 

So, I went to work straight away, and I did a concept of operations from which I never knew where the target country would be, but the SAS would participate, and that's what transpired. 

Two weeks later, we're in Afghanistan, in front of General James Mattis's task force, who was a Brigadier of that Marine Task Force, and going into Kandahar from the south. 

Greg Ross: Yes, time's not easily forgotten, and of course, most of us do remember where we were when that event unfolded, live on television in Australia. Peter, you spent 15 years in Parliament, State Parliament in WA, Minister for Housing, Asian Engagement, Youth, but of course, more importantly, in your current role, Minister for Veterans. What did that experience teach you? 

Peter Tinley: Well, I've been a member of the Cockburn Sub-branch of the RSL here for many, many years, and I was when I went into the Parliament, and so that was my exposure to ex-service organisations. It was just my local, and that was fine, good eggs, and I enjoyed it.  I'm still a member. But when I went into Parliament, I suddenly understood that this was public service in a different uniform, and there's a great benefit of that, because in your local area, with all your electors, state seats are a nice size. You can get your arms around them, you know the issues. But then I became the Veterans Issues Minister in WA, and I realised that there are so many ESOs out there.

So many people are doing good work, and that was bewildering, actually, the number of people who are just trying to do good things.  

I am very much eyes wide open when it comes to the ex-service organisations around Australia, and now I’m the National President of the RSL. So, it really… it really did prepare me for it. 

Greg Ross: Yeah. Yeah, well, of course, politics can be a learning curve for many, finding concessions and middle ground. I guess that's the nature of working together, isn't it? 

Peter Tinley: Well, that's right, and it's funny you should raise those words, Greg, because my mantra to everybody is that we're better together. When we start to fight in-house, I'm talking both the RSL and the ESO community, then we're not actually doing the right service towards veterans.

I met with the Minister, Matt Keogh, this week. He's a Perth boy, so it's pretty easy, and that was great. He is super committed and doing great work, and but the one thing he did say to me was “If I have too many voices at me, I can't make a cogent sort of decision around what's required”,. And so the challenge is fairly laid down by the Minister to us, and he’s saying, “It's on you now, as a sector, to represent in the best possible way you can, as many veterans as you can”. 

Greg Ross: Peter, you've been a member of the Cockburn RSL Sub-branch for 15 years or so, and what is the Cockburn sub-branch there in WA like?  

 Peter Tinley: It's, it's a fantastic place, although, they would be laughing at me, because they say, well, when's the last time you were down there, mate? And they wouldn't be wrong, and I'd be guilty as charged. I actually won the raffle, just as an aside. I won the weekly raffle down there, but the rule is, you have to be there to claim. And, I said, I've never won a raffle in my life, and they've made a great sport of it on the Facebook site for that, you know, he's too busy to come here. 

Greg Ross: You'll have to get down there to claim your chook! 

Peter Tinley: Anyway, I think if I go down there, I'm up for money over the bar, that's what I'm up for. So, yeah, they're great. It's a hall, a classic hall, really nicely, looked after, with a car park in front, a memorial garden to the left of it, the Rose Garden, it's lovely. Playground for the kids. It is so suburban, and it’s run by some great people. They built the hall themselves, with support from the Cockburn City, which is very, very supportive, and they're great. It's a great relationship.  

They run a youth parade around Remembrance Day, and they get the school kids coming out. They've got nearly 1,500 school kids on this march. Dozens and dozens of schools, senior groups, and they march, they shut the streets down in the middle of town and they march down to the memorial, and I've been on that march, and it's great fun. School bands, all the lot, and then we do a commemorative service. 

Greg Ross: Isn't that lovely? Because, Peter, in the earlier days of my magazine, we had a series which we ran regularly called Education and the Anzac Spirit, and I'm thinking of rejigging that because it's more important than ever to engage the youth in the stories of the Anzac tradition. 

Peter Tinley: And it's good to hear that you've got 1,500 school kids out there, around Cockburn doing that too. It's a good sign for the future 

Greg Ross: What did you mean when you said, “Leadership is not about command. It's about service”?

Peter Tinley: Using the motto of Sandhurst, the Officer Training School in the UK: “Serve to Lead”. The sentiment there is that, command is easy when you're wearing a uniform and you've got the corporate jewellery, as they say, and there's a hierarchical structure, but when you're trying to build consensus, and this is what I've learned from politics, you don't have a command and control system, even inside the caucuses of the various parties. You actually have to create the desire to follow, and so that means you need to serve the needs of that group and understand them.  

So, when I look at the RSL nationally, I say, alright, how do I serve? What are the needs of the organisation?  

One of them, it might sound esoteric, is to live into the reputation that they've got. RSL Australia, or the various RSLs before they federated, pre-existed DVA. They pre-existed any of these agencies, and they came together just for the simple purpose of looking after mates post-war 1916, and they did a mighty job. 

DVA, for example, as one of the world-class veteran support agencies (and I do mean that, and I will defend it, despite some people's experiences. If you're in there, it's a fantastic organisation) came about because the RSL willed it into existence by effort, and it created the circumstances by which the government formed it, and there's a whole history to that. 

And the other thing I should always put in there is our sister organisation, which is nearly as old, and that's Legacy. RSL looks after the veteran, Legacy looks after the family, and that's very much how we, again, are better together. 

Greg Ross: Peter, what do you think about employment and the mental health stress that veterans can go through when returning home for transition? 

Peter Tinley: I think you've hit the nail on the head. The starting point is transition. How they come out of Defence is, in my view, fundamentally important for us to be able to identify preconditions for challenges. Identifying or educating, if you like, those veterans coming out so that they don't walk alone. They don't walk alone because there are veterans organisations everywhere, and government support. 

And they're brilliant. You know, there is no-question-asked mental health support available at the end of a telephone line, any time, and you just have to have served one day to be considered a part of the team.  

So, one of the things that the RSL really needs to own is the capacity to refer people. We've got, as I say, over 1,100 sub-branches across the country. We're represented in every corner of this country, just about, and so there's no excuse for a veteran not being able to at least walk in and get some sort of referral. We're working hard on that, as are the other ESOs, to ensure that there's no wrong door, as we say. You come through a door, you're a veteran, we'll get you onto the path you need.  

This other function of sub-branches is that they create camaraderie, they create a space and place for people to actually feel safe and welcome within the company of other people who have a similar or shared experience to them, and that's that psychosocial support, I think, is often overlooked. They can actually identify with somebody. 

Greg Ross: Yes. I know from experience the “Wounded Digger” narrative is wrong. What's your take on that? 

Peter Tinley: Oh, I think it is wrong, but I'm unashamedly focused on helping the most vulnerable. We've got 600,000 veterans in this country, people have had some service or other, and by and large, there'd be a less (and I wouldn't want to put an exact figure on it, because it's very hard) than a couple of percent that would be in that vulnerable area, but we can't tell you when somebody might become vulnerable and so you have to do it all for everyone.  

One of the things that we really need to do as a national body in the RSL, and right across the sector, is make a contribution to national resilience. And part of that contribution is getting people to understand that veterans are actually a multiplier, they're an accelerator, and vast majority of them are great contributors to community and also to enterprises.  

I was at the Indo-Pacific Sea Power Conference 2025 in Darling Harbour earlier this month. Thousands and thousands of people go through there, and I was walking across the floor, and what really amazed me was that over half the floor were veterans, either walking around in uniform, or on the sell side, or working for Defence industry and making fantastic contributions. Now, that's not the only areas that veterans go into, but it's a stark reminder that the contribution to national capability continues well beyond the time you shed your uniform. 

Greg Ross: Now, Peter, when I say these words, jurisdictional initiatives, national alignment, state autonomy, we're referring to the RSL. What does that actually mean? 

Peter Tinley: It means that, well, you can slice and dice that many ways, but from a national perspective, that is the role that I'm required to perform, and happy to perform. The national office doesn't command anything. The national office in Canberra, is there to do “Big A” Advocacy, coordination, and really solicitation as required, but not give unsolicited advice.  

One of the things I know from politics is service delivery from the centre is very poor. You don't do it. That's why we have state governments and local governments. Those who are closer to the citizen are best placed to understand the needs and/or impacts of any particular service delivery. And I have the same view with the RSL State Branches. They deliver services. What we do at the national level is give them the autonomy to do it, support them, and where possible, join the dots.

Greg Ross: Tell us about your vision for RSL Australia. 

Peter Tinley: Well, I see a series of things where, again, to use these words, and you’ll probably get sick of hearing them, we’re better together.  

Things like making sure the “Big A" Advocacy is the cogent voice of the entire organisation.  

We’re in a three-pillar opportunity in Australia with the post-Royal Commission recommendations the Government has adopted.  

One is we’re going to have a Wellbeing Agency, the second thing is they're going to have an ESO Peak Body, and the third thing is they want to have an Institute for Veterans Advocates to improve the service that's given to veterans who are claiming or needing support from the government. 

In those three areas, there is a vital role for all ESOs, but certainly from the RSL's perspective, in making sure we create the umbrella, if you like, that allows those ESOs to have a voice. 

So one of my challenges and opportunities is to actually make sure that that voice is brought together in a way that is really helpful to government, helpful to the agencies that deliver service, and helpful to all the other ESOs that would be better together, joined up and connected to each other, delivering that service. 

Listen to the full podcast here.