Veteran’s advocate outcry over Boroondara Council $1 a year rent for $10m former RSL site

A deal which allows Boroondara council to rent the $10m former North Balwyn RSL site for $1 a year should be probed, leading veterans advocate says.

The North Balwyn RSL in 2016 before its demolition.

A leading veterans’ advocate has called for an inquiry into a deal which allowed a $10m RSL property to be picked up by Boroondara council for just $1 a year.

Lucas Moon said RSL Victoria had been “taken advantage of” over the process to demolish the North Balwyn RSL and build a new community centre.

Boroondara council is now paying just $1 a year for a 99-year lease on the site.

The land was originally council-owned and deeded to the North Balwyn RSL in 1959. In 1996, it was transferred to RSL Victoria’s head office.

The Greythorn Community Hub in Balwyn North.

The council knocked down the RSL building in 2016 and the land formed part of the site for the new $17.2m Greythorn Community Hub, which opened in September 2018.

But Mr Moon, secretary of the Hawthorn RSL sub-branch and a Liberal Party candidate at the last state election, has called on the state government to investigate the deal, which he said had duped veterans.

“The RSL has been taken ­advantage of,” he said.

“The trustees have failed veterans once again. An asset worth up to $10m has been handed over to the richest council in Victoria at the ­expense of veterans.

“Every Anzac Day we rattle tins and sell badges to raise much-needed funds to help veterans and to buy properties like North Balwyn. The building and land has been gifted to the council with no benefit.”

The original plans for the two-level community hub on Centre Way included a room that the RSL could use. But the sub-branch no longer has any members.

Inside the Greythorn Community Hub.

The membership had dwindled even by the time of the handover in 2016, and just eight service members were on the membership books by 2019.

The remaining North Balwyn members have transferred to the Box Hill sub-branch.

Mr Moon said the council secured the land, taking an asset of the veterans’ community and giving nothing in return.

The Greythorn project, built with the help of $3.2m in federal grants, houses a library lounge, health services, an early childhood centre, a neighbourhood house and underground parking.

RSL memorabilia was displayed throughout the hub.

An RSL spokesman said the organisation, as trustee for the property, was in talks with Consumer Affairs Victoria and Boroondara council over the future of the site.

The original lease agreement included a commitment for the sub-branch to have rooms inside the community hub to continue its work of supporting veterans.

Boroondara councillor Jim Parke said under the lease agreement, council was pleased to house the RSL and its memorabilia in the new building, as well as provide services to the community.

“Council is grateful to the committee of the North Balwyn RSL in particular for the commitment they have shown to their local community by supporting the building of a much-needed hub,” he said.