‘I won’t apologise’: RSL doubles down on Nollamara branch eviction over skimpies, ‘bikie links’​on January 21, 2025 at 11:46 pm

Less than 24 hours after the board meeting, RSL WA officials arrived at the site flanked by police and locksmiths to evict the Nollamara sub-branch members and the Veterans Motorcycle Club from the premises.

But the eviction soon descended into a search and seizure the RSL gave police permission to execute, which uncovered 35 rounds of ammunition, magazine clips and imported pharmaceuticals.

The police attendance was not part of any criminal investigation into the club.

Counsel for VMC Stephen Hicks grilled Anderson on the league’s decision not to forewarn the club of an eviction he claimed was more akin to an “ambush”, a characterisation the RSL state president rejected.

Anderson told the court the decision to move in secret was underpinned by concerns it held about the amount of personal property, memorabilia and valuable medals that had been donated to the sub-branch.

“So it would be better for it to be an ambush than to give notice?” Hicks asked Anderson.

“That’s a pretty bold term. We took a decision our constitution allowed us to take,” Anderson responded.

The court was told VMC members forcibly gained access to the site several weeks later, which the league claims amounted to trespass because their permission to be on the property was conditional on the RSL operating.

Despite verbal and written warnings, Anderson said it was clear the club members had no intention of leaving the property and that the league would not return to the community while the VMC remained next door.

The RSL took the matter to court in May 2024 seeking an urgent injunction requiring the motorcycle club and its members to vacate the premises.

But the VMC have staunchly defended the allegations, firing back with a counterclaim against the league.

The club claims it has held a peppercorn lease agreement with the sub-branch since it invested in the clubhouse’s construction in the mid-1990s and was entitled to stay.

RSL WA has repeatedly insisted it has no record of a formal lease agreement ever being inked between the two parties and that members of the sub-branch did not have the authority to sign off on such an arrangement.

But Hicks questioned the veracity of that claim, accusing the organisation of looking furiously for documents everywhere but the other party to the lease deal.

Anderson also refused Hicks’ push for an apology on behalf of the RSL for harbouring goods seized during the eviction, saying the conduct coupled with the nine-month legal battle had left the relationship beyond repair.

“The actions of the VMC have cost a membership-based charity tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees,” Anderson told the court.

“The RSL has taken significant steps to settle this matter in mediation, despite another party behaving in contravention of our code of conduct and bylaws. No, I’m not willing to apologise.”

While maintaining that the Nollamara sub-branch and VMC had members in common, Anderson could not confirm who from the VMC was involved in the incidents that gave rise to the termination of the sub-branch.

“[The VMC] are being punished, effectively, as if they were involved,” Hicks told the court.

On the stand, the VMC’s president of almost 30 years John Lewis pored over documents from the construction of the clubhouse in the mid-1990s.

The Vietnam veteran, who served in the 3rd Battalion, said the $7000 worth of construction materials were bankrolled by fundraising efforts and the bulk of the labour was donated by more than half a dozen members.

Lewis told the court the clubhouse was built after the Nollamara sub-branch agreed the VMC would have “exclusive and unhindered access” under a peppercorn lease, which required the club to hold four minor functions annually.

The VMC has argued departing the site would require abandoning infrastructure it bankrolled through donations and free labour and community connections forged could not be replicated elsewhere.

Hicks had attempted to unearth more documentation from the RSL’s archives through a court-ordered document swap, a move Justice Alain Musikanth warned could necessitate an urgent adjournment of the trial.

The bid was staunchly opposed by Porter, who accused the defence of launching a “fishing expedition” five months after the bulk of the process — known as discovery — had concluded.

While Hicks maintained the search would not be as onerous as claimed by the plaintiffs, he ultimately abandoned the pursuit.

The VMC is expected to call its final witness on Wednesday before the three-day trial draws to a close.

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