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CEO of the Royal New Zealand Returned and Services Association (RSA) Marty Donoghue says some Anzac Day commemorations have “become a bit like Disneyland” and distract from their core purpose.
The retired colonel, who served in Bosnia, Angola, Bougainville and Iraq across a 25-year stint in the Army, says more focus on Anzac Day should be given to living veterans and the lack of support they’re receiving.
In a spirited interview on Newstalk ZB’s Real Life with John Cowan on Sunday night, Donoghue hit out at flashy Anzac ceremonies and politicians who deliver speeches that ignore the sacrifices of surviving veterans.
“This is probably not going to make me popular: Anzac Day is always a conflicting time for me [and] in some ways, you can see it’s become a bit like Disneyland,” he said.
Marty Donoghue, based in Wellington, has been Chief Executive of the Royal New Zealand Returned and Services Association (RNZRSA) since October 2020.
“There’s light shows, there’s all sorts of things being brought into it – which might make it attractive, but actually take away from the core purpose of why it’s there.”
Donoghue told Cowan there are 140,000 veterans in New Zealand – 62,000 of whom have been created since 1990 – who need support but don’t warrant much of a mention come Anzac Day.
He says many of these veterans have been involved in significant campaigns in the likes of Timor-Leste and Afghanistan, but it’s proven easier to “talk about the dead” than “about the living and the lack of support we’re giving to them”.
“It’s really easy to talk about the dead. They can’t do much. It’s a lot harder when you’re confronted with veterans with mental health issues, with homelessness, with hardship,” he said.
“We are creating, because of the poor conditions of the current NZDF [New Zealand Defence Force], a working poor against our current service people.
“We [living veterans] sometimes get acknowledged on Anzac Day as the peacekeepers. Well, I can tell you now, having done two tours to Iraq, there is no peace to keep … but I guess for some politicians it’s easier to call it that than actually what we were doing.
“It’s particularly egregious when I hear lots of politicians jump up and take the microphone, and what they’re not talking about is what they’re going to do tomorrow, next week or this year to support our current veterans.”
Donoghue says there is “a problem” with the current legislation dictating who is and isn’t a veteran. He says the law is discriminatory, as it differentiates between those who have and haven’t been involved in operational service.
The Anzac Day dawn service at the Cenotaph at the Auckland War Memorial Museum at the Auckland Domain. Photo / Hayden Woodward
“If you served before 1974, all of your services count towards being a veteran. If you served after 1974, you can only be called a veteran if you have operational service. And so it leaves a whole lot of people out of [having] the ability to call themselves veterans or get the support they need.
“They may well have deployed to the Whakaari/White Island [disaster], one of the most hazardous operations, but that’s not deemed operational service.
“They may have done 10 years at short notice as part of the Special Forces in Operation Saraband, training harder than they would if they deployed overseas, and yet none of that service is recognised as operational.”
In a wide-ranging interview, Donoghue also spoke about his service in Bosnia, working with the United Nations, and taking landmines through airport security in Iran just after 9/11.
Real Life is a weekly interview show where John Cowan speaks with prominent guests about their life, upbringing, and the way they see the world. Tune in Sundays from 7:30pm on Newstalk ZB or listen to the latest full interview here.
