Southport RSL battle: Hope for end of dispute as outside buyer steps in
The lid has been lifted on the behind-the-scenes battle at an 81-year-old Gold Coast RSL after a major development which should bring an end to the bitter dispute.
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ARMISTICE Day has come early for the Southport RSL.
It is understood the Scarborough Street premises, the subject of a civil war between the sub-branch which owns it and the memorial club which operates it, is now under contract from an outside buyer.
While memorial club patron and former president Brian Baker says it is not the best-case scenario, he understands it will allow both club and sub-branch to continue occupying the site where it has stood for 81 years, and to continue serving both veterans and the wider Southport community.
More importantly, he says he is hopeful it will allow the warring factions to begin repairing their relationship.
The battle of Southport hit the headlines in September when the cash-strapped sub-branch, with 400 members, revealed plans to sell off the building and relocate its offices, saying it could no longer afford the mortgage on the property.
The memorial club, which has 12,000 members and runs the bars, restaurants and gaming, submitted an offer to buy the club but it was not accepted.
While the club recently signed a five-year lease, there were fears it could be forced to operate without the RSL name if it was bought by an outside buyer and the sub-branch was relocated.
Brian says the future of both the club and the sub-branch now appeared secure.
“The most important thing is that both the memorial club and the sub-branch can continue to do what they do best,” says Brian, a former president of both factions, including a two-year term when he was the concurrent president of the sub-branch and memorial club.
“I’ve been trying to play peacemaker between the two sides but I ended up feeling like a prisoner of war. We were stuck. The memorial club was at the mercy of gods.
“We thought that if someone bought this building, the sub-branch would be gone – which meant we would be too. But it looks like we’re both staying.
“I’m hopeful that once this deal is finalised, we can work on repairing the bonds of our brotherhood.
“It’s been a terrible time. We’re here to help diggers, not to fight against one another. There have always been tensions between the two factions. I remember in the old days you’d just about come to blows before meetings, but that’s because we’re a passionate mob. There was never any true bad blood like there has been of late.
“I just want to see us working together again and standing shoulder to shoulder.”
While Brian says the deal provides a solution to the civil war, it is not the perfect happy ending he had imagined. He says ideally the club could have bought the building from the sub-branch, allowing it to become master of its own domain, instead of a tenant.
He says he is still not clear why the club’s $5 million offer, which was based on independent market assessment by national firm JMP Valuers, was not accepted by the sub-branch, given it would clear all debts and leave them with close to $2 million in the bank.
“I still can’t completely understand why the sub-branch wouldn’t accept our deal. It would have solved all of their problems,’’ he says.
“They would owe nothing and we would owe them nothing. The slate would be clean and we would both be able to continue on doing the good work we do – and that we should be doing together.
“We would continue to host raffles, commemoration days and support them in every way that we do now.
“We had big plans to revitalise this building, which would ultimately mean more income for the sub-branch, but at this stage I can’t see that happening.
“Look, we are happy that we still have a future – and a future together. It just would have been great to really be in charge of the direction we wanted to take.
“As tenants, you’re never in complete control. But that’s life, you don’t always get the perfect ending. Hopefully we still have a happy ending, however.”
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Back in 1995, Brian literally helped build this club … and he is grateful he now doesn’t have to watch it break.
In fact, this was not the first fight for survival that he has waged on behalf of the club.
In 2005, after years of financial mismanagement, he stepped in as president – only stepping down last year – and eventually broke the back of a crippling $20 million debt.
“I was president of the memorial club in 1995. It was two years after pokie machines came in and we needed more room. So I said to the president of the sub-branch, can we use your building? At the time we were next door.
“We worked together, as we always have, and we demolished the old building and built what stands here now.
“When we started, the memorial club had $3 million in the bank and we needed to borrow $5
million and we signed a deal to get it done for $8 million.
“But before work finished, I lost my position and the new board let the contract blow out to $12 million.
“They were nice guys but just not a lot of business sense. In 1995, I banked a profit of $1 million for the club. When the new club opened, trading had gone up 300 per cent but they banked just $600,000.
“Unfortunately, it just got worse. By 2005, things were dire. The club had a debt of almost $20 million and was paying 19.5 per cent interest because they hadn’t kept up with payments and the interest was compounding.
“No one wanted to touch the club. I put my hand up to come back as president – there wasn’t much competition – and ultimately we sold next door to the Koreans who built the Victoria Towers and we now have our debt down to $3.2 million and we’re paying principal and interest.
“It’s been a slow ship to turn around but we’ve managed it, and we’re succeeding.
“We really have been at crunch time because this building is getting old. There are some serious maintenance issues and the sub-branch didn’t have the funds to fix it. Hopefully with the new ownership that won’t be an issue.”
Brian says that in retrospect, the war broke out when the club’s lifts broke down.
A wrangle over maintenance responsibility ultimately ended in the courts – and resulted in a cold war climate.
“Every time our lifts need work, the sub-branch – as landlord – has paid. After all, if the lifts in a high-rise break down, it’s not the renters who pay.
“But this time they said it was our duty. And the bill was $80,000. We couldn’t afford to not fix the lifts as it would compromise the safety of our patrons, so we paid – but we couldn’t afford to double dip and make our usual payments to the mortgagee on their behalf.
“They took us to court, which I believe is still ongoing.
“But the real cost of that issue has been the breakdown in our relationship.
“In fact, when we first took our offer to buy the club to the sub-branch, they agreed. But as
relationship tensions worsened, they reneged.”
Brian says he simply wants to see the Southport RSL, where he has been a member since 1971, remain a source of support for both veterans and the community.
“We are a big part of this suburb and a big part of helping our veterans. There are more and more diggers needing help.
“We’re one of the most successful clubs and that means we can help the sub-branch help the
diggers. We’ve really helped put the RSL and Southport on the map.
“Our Anzac dawn service is now almost as big as Currumbin’s. I always joke with them that they might have the rock, but we have the beautiful Broadwater.
“There is so much more we can do to help our brothers and sisters.”
Already, the first signs of reparation are apparent.
Memorial club general manager Paul Burton says both sides have come together to organise the service for Monday’s Remembrance Day commemoration.
“There actually has been a degree of co-operation and communication from both the sub-branch and the club in the lead-up to November 11. It’s quite positive to hear,” says Paul.
“Some of our committee members will be out selling poppies on behalf of the sub-branch, and both the club president and myself will be laying wreaths at the ceremony in Anzac Park.
“It’s a relief to see both parties talking. It’s a far cry from where we were even a month ago.
“All we want is to maintain the long-standing tradition of the RSL here in Southport – lest we forget.”
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