By Goya Dmytryshchak
The Newport RSL Club ceased trading at the weekend as Victorian RSL examines the sub branch’s financial position.
Victorian RSL chief executive Mike Annett said the sub branch was in financial difficulty, the full extent of which was not yet known.
“Newport RSL is a licensed but unincorporated sub branch so any financial difficulty they find themselves in – and they are in financial difficulty – ultimately need to be recovered,” he said.
“We have an interest in ensuring that the sub branch … can meet its obligations in terms of its debts, its creditors, and ensure that any staff entitlements are met.”
Mr Annett said the state branch had assisted the Newport sub branch after the lease on its Market Street premises became overdue.
He said the Victorian RSL commercial operations team met with the executive of the Newport sub branch committee on Friday.
“We were pleased that the sub branch committee recognised that the only prudent and sensible thing to do was to immediately cease commercial operations until such time as their true financial position could be ascertained,” Mr Annett said.
“We did not want them to be continuing to trade commercially when there was any doubt about what that position was and we also didn’t want to put in jeopardy any staff entitlements that may or may not have been fully met to date.
“Our commercial ops team, once they’ve had an opportunity to establish that financial position, will provide a further report to our state executive, which is essentially the governing body for the RSL in Victoria.”
The Newport sub branch has not been dissolved, unlike Williamstown RSL whose club closed on January 3, 2017.
“We just hope we can, firstly, get an accurate picture of the [Newport] sub branch’s situation as quickly as we can, and then the state executive can make some longer-term decisions about its ongoing viability,” Mr Annett said.
The Williamstown RSL Club was placed in voluntary administration before being sold to a childcare centre developer to recoup a $3.5 million debt.
