A PROMISED election upgrade to deliver works to the Brookwood Community Centre in Doreen has left multiple Doreen businesses within the centre pondering its impact.
Announced by Member for McEwen Rob Mitchell prior to the election, the $1.6 million upgrade to the Brookwood Community Centre was mainly seen as an upgrade which helped the Doreen RSL move into a home after years of campaigning.
Businesses who called the Brookwood Community Centre home were concerned following the announcement, and subsequent Labor victory, that they would be kicked out of the building to make way for the RSL.
In particular, Doreen Dance Power, a dance studio which has run for the last 23 years, expressed concern that they were being removed from the building immediately following the announcement, with a petition released to keep the business alive following the election.
With 952 signatures at the time of production, Doreen Dance Power’s Lola Nikolaou was blown away, saying it was a student-driven petition.
“We were blown away. We didn’t even do the petition, our students organised that,” she said.
“They are devastated and shattered. A lot of them we helped through COVID, running classes free of charge to help get them over the line—there was a lot of anxiety post-COVID that we helped get through.
“We’re not an elite school that does competition or exams, we are a very inclusive school, have all sorts of walks of life, and it’s not just dance, we do musical theatre, we do hip hop, cheerleading and acrobatics.”
However, Doreen RSL president Wes Wridgway has quickly moved to douse concerns, saying they would only take up a certain amount of space in the upgraded building, instead of becoming a commercial entity.
“I haven’t spoken to Council or Rob Mitchell since the announcement, but the definition of a ‘Traditional RSL’ to dispel a lot of rumours going around at the moment, is a small RSL with maybe a bar and memorabilia where members can pop in and mix with like-minded people. At this stage, it gives us an indication that we’ll have a place that our veterans can call home and have a safe place in,” he said.
“We meet Friday nights at the moment, purely because we have nowhere else to be. If we have an RSL (and a home of our own) then we’ll probably open as a facility on three or four days a week in the afternoons or evenings. It wouldn’t be a big commercial entity—we won’t have pokies or a dining area, it’s just a small meeting place for our veterans to be, certainly more than once a week.
“A place of our own is something we were looking for. There’s a lot to be done between now and then. We’ll need a lot of community consultation to inform what will be happening, how it won’t be a commercial entity, which is what they are thinking it will look like, with a number of businesses that run out of there at the moment who will need consultation with Council.”
Mr Wridgway was aware of the petition to save Doreen Dance Power but has not been able to get in contact yet with the owners as he tried to lower their concerns.
“I have offered my number to the Dance Power owners and have reached out to them via one of their members, and they haven’t responded. They think they are being kicked out, but it is a Council building, Council own it, they rent rooms within the building. It’s a Council and Rob Mitchell consultation. We knew nothing about it until the announcement,” he said.
Ms Nikolaou is still seeking answers from the City of Whittlesea and Rob Mitchell about where the future lies for her business.
“We have asked for meetings with Rob Mitchell before and after the election, and meetings with Council. They met with us on Friday, but they had no answers, they didn’t know anything about it, they had to make enquiries, they don’t know if the funding can be moved elsewhere or whether it has to be at Brookwood,” she said.
“I have spoken to the Mayor and he seemed quite fair that he would look into it, that’s all they are saying. We just didn’t know where to turn. Who do you go to?
“We just want some surety, what will happen to us and our 300-odd kids. Where do we go? There isn’t really anywhere else in the area that can accommodate us.
“We have the greatest respect for the RSL and yes, they do need somewhere to meet, but they are talking about every Friday night, and a big get-together once a month. It seems a shame that they’re going to uproot so many community groups.
“You can’t expect to run a dance school and a RSL together. It just wouldn’t work.”
Mr Wridgway promised businesses and organisations in the area would benefit instead of being left to ponder their future as a result of the announcement.
“We don’t plan to affect them in any way, shape or form; in fact, we need the café and they will probably appreciate the extra patronage from the Doreen RSL members when we are meeting. I know the church meets every Sunday—the Doreen RSL will not be open on a Sunday, so there’s no reason the church can’t go ahead every Sunday, and other groups who would like to use the facility when we’re not. We have no problem with that—we intend on being a community-minded RSL,” he said.
