Call to Action Explainer:  Why Our Place wants you to tell RSL Tasmania that we stand with them

RSL Tasmania is the state’s peak body and offers advice, support and camaraderie to all current and former Australian Defence Force members and their families.

For over a year, the RSL has been distracted from its core work by endless impositions on its time as it advocates to prevent the desecration of the Cenotaph. It has been mired in incessant “consultations”, constantly responded to with weasel words as it has stood up to defend its sacred place, Tasmania’s sacred place. And it has been misled by the Macquarie Point Development Corporation (MPDC) as to the height of the proposed stadium.

With the release of the latest “indicative”, “sneak peek” images from the MPDC, the RSL knew what it had suspected all along. Three of the Cenotaph’s critical sight lines will be destroyed by the proposed Mac Point stadium. You can see that desecration in the images released by the RSL. The first shows the relative levels, setting the context for the other two images – one showing the sight lines in question and the other the view from the Cenotaph to the stadium.

As part of the Our Place submission to the 21 June 2024 Public Accounts Committee hearings on the proposed stadium, award-winning architect, Mat Hinds, explained that the Cenotaph, Tasmania’s shrine of remembrance, is “the most sacred ceremonial axis in the city”, nationally, “a ceremonial sightline of unparalleled significance”. Watch the relevant section of Mat’s in-person submission to fully appreciate the cultural importance of the sight lines the RSL seeks to protect.

And we are not the only ones who are distressed. One well-known Tasmanian, whose great uncle was a WW1 VC winner, is similarly outraged. Cartoon by Daze:

RSL Tasmania has had enough and asked its CEO, Mr John Hardy, to send a letter to the Premier on 18 July 2024.  From that letter:

Premier Sir, the very essence of the Cenotaph is its sightlines; to destroy these sightlines is to desecrate, humiliate and pay little more than lip service to our sacred place. 

The Cenotaph is a sacred place. RSL Tasmania cannot and will not stand by and do nothing. 

No development should be permitted that obscures the Cenotaph from these sight lines. Sight lines which have been rightly protected by the Sullivans Cove planning scheme for decades. 

Click below to read the full letter to the Premier.

If you have any doubt about the weasel words the RSL has been wading through in the past year, reinforcing its belief that it has been “disrespected and misled at every turn”, we suggest you watch this brief video featuring MPDC CEO, Ms Anne Beach. You might have more luck than us in finding any meaning in this. We get why the RSL is not assured.

We get why the RSL decided it was time for a strong public stance. Sadly, its determination to act with integrity has been met with an ugly backlash, including personal attacks on Mr Hardy. He has had to put up with local good ole boys’ sleights, with his service history questioned, together with his allegiance to Tasmania given that he was not born here!

At Our Place, we stand with the RSL Tasmania, with its President, Mr Barry Quinn, and its CEO, Mr John Hardy, as they call for protection of their Cenotaph, everyone’s Cenotaph. We stand with them not just on Anzac Day but for as long as it takes to get this job done. A stadium at Mac Point must not go ahead.

Roland Browne, Our Place spokesperson, has been quick to support the RSL’s call for better behaviour by our government and by some stadium supporters.

We now ask you to join us in letting the RSL know that we respect their stance, that we stand shoulder to shoulder with them.

Tasmanians want their Cenotaph respected and they respect the RSL for leading the way!