The Royal Automobile Club of Australia occupies a stately, heritage-listed building on Sydney’s Macquarie Street that harks back to an era of prosperity, exclusivity and refinement.
But behind the clubhouse doors, its leaders are engaged in a vicious battle for control of the club’s direction, trading legal threats, grovelling apologies and grievances about management decisions.
The Royal Automobile Club of Australia on Macquarie Street in Sydney.Credit: Flavio Brancaleone
Streams of emails sent by directors and aspiring directors in the lead-up to last week’s annual general meeting reveal the growing animosity over how to improve the club’s finances.
Holly Campbell, a consultant and ex-Southern Highlands councillor, successfully campaigned for election to the board on a platform titled: “Journey Back to Greatness”. In an October 7 email to members, she complained about previous boards’ “fantasy” proposals to whack 11 storeys – later reduced to six – of new office space above the heritage building.
“Now, in 2022, believe it or not, the current Board is at it AGAIN,” Campbell wrote. “These actions underscore why RACA needs A Total Governance Overhaul.”
The contents of that email prompted a “message from the board majority” 11 days later advising members they had engaged external lawyers to deal with Campbell’s allegedly “disgraceful” and defamatory missive.
The message was signed by five of the club’s nine then-directors: president Megan Lavender, vice-president Robert Armitage, Peter Reed, Morgan Kelly and Graeme Jones. They wrote: “It has been our practice in the past not to respond specifically to material circulated by other candidates. However, on this occasion a line has been crossed and it is necessary for us to respond.”
Leaders of the Royal Automobile Club of Australia. (Top row, left to right) Stephen Hathway, Holly Campbell, Michael Harrison. (Bottom row, left to right) Peter Reed, Robert Armitage, Megan Lavender.
Separately, another board director, Michael Harrison, emailed all club members with an extensive apology to Armitage for a letter he wrote in September criticising Armitage’s management of club affairs.
An urban planner who once worked for the City of Sydney council, Harrison had also condemned prior proposals to redevelop the clubhouse – which he called “surely one of the most desirable addresses in the world”.
Tensions escalated at the club’s annual general meeting last Thursday night when the outgoing board proposed to triple the directors’ annual food and beverage allowance from $10,000 to $30,000.
The agenda, seen by the Herald, also showed a further $30,000 was proposed for directors’ professional development and education, including attending seminars or visiting other clubs “for the purpose of assessing their amenities and methods of operation”.
But there was confusion over whether that motion passed. In a post-AGM email to members, re-elected club director Stephen Hathway wrote that while a new board had been chosen, they were unable to select an executive because rural members had problems voting by phone.
This was “a desperate shame”, Hathway said. He also reported that members had many difficulties using Zoom at the AGM. “The sound was lost, votes had to be recounted,” he wrote.
Members submitted dozens of questions to the AGM about the club’s finances, the alleged poor quality of its food and the fate of the large awning that lines the building on its Albert Street side – which has been there for nearly 20 years.
Questions included: “Why can’t country members get a plate of sandwiches and a glass of wine if they arrive late? When is the food going to improve? When we are going broke, why are we handing out pot plants, free wine and dinners with the president?”
The new board is due to meet again shortly to elect an executive, but not before warring members put aside their differences at the club’s $120 Melbourne Cup luncheon on Tuesday, featuring a five-course menu that includes asparagus caprese salad, a seafood plate and roast lamb saddle.
Outgoing president Lavender, who is also chair of Road Sense Australia and a former director of Greyhound Racing NSW, did not return several calls and messages. Calls to the club’s head office also went unreturned.
In May, RACA appointed a new chief executive, David Fischer, whom several members praised as a ray of hope who should be given a chance to improve affairs.
The club was founded for motoring enthusiasts and its website notes that while members’ interests have widened since 1903, travel, touring and collecting cars and memorabilia remain key activities.
Unlike the nearby Australian Club, the RACA admits women as members and has done since 1946. In 2019, it hosted its first gay wedding.
But like many legacy clubs, the RACA is battling to retain members, relevance and cash. Its 2021-22 financial report revealed an operating loss of $79,940 before depreciation and $461,847 after depreciation.
That was despite the club successfully applying for $215,240 in government COVID-19 stimulus payments, on top of $725,750 the previous year. It had 1812 members at the end of June, which was up fractionally from the year before – but much less than the 7000 it boasted in the 1980s.
Reed, a 40-year club veteran, said there was a contingent of members who had been vocal about changing the guard. But he said the financial situation was “not that bad”.
“We just need members to really support their club [and] use their club,” he told the Herald. “The past is the past, we need to move forward.”
The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up here.