Rod Mulder on behalf of Men's Shed Pomona Inc.

7:05 Mayor Wilkie: Second Deputation, we have Mr Rod Mulder, Mr Ross Muller and Mr Neil Bale. The topic is the tenure issue at the Men's Shed Pomona. Gentlemen, would you like to come to the lectern? We have 15 minutes for you.

7:22 Speaker 4: Mr Mayor, Councillors, our representative, Ross Muller, will speak on our behalf. Thank you, sir.

7:34 Good morning, Chairman, Councillors. A little bit of background first. The Men's Shed at Pomona, it is a community-based organisation and we do serve the community of Pomona, Cooroy, Kin Kin, Keran, the area in the hinterland around there. What we provide is a place and a service for men to attend, to be physically and mentally active, really concentrating on the mental activity within the environment of the shed. It's a friendly environment and it's a safe environment. What are our goals? Our goals are to provide a safe place where men can gather and where they actually want to be, to produce goods for sale that represent value for money. We are running a small business, so we actually need to have some cash coming in. To provide a cost-effective restoration service. Members of the community bring things in, you fix this for me, can you do this, can you do that? Yes, we can, and we love doing that. And we also provide community services. So what are our problems? The problems are that we are running out of space on the existing site. We do have workshops and they're well-equipped, but they're very crowded. We've got to walk around like that in there.

8:49 What that does is it limits the number of people who can attend and it also limits the opening times that we have. Let me now run through a timeline. How did we get to where we are today?

9:04 Men's Shed was formed in 2012. At that time, it was operating under the auspices of Pomona and Community House. And it stayed that way until 2017. In 2014, and at that time they were also operating at a Boston shed attached to Pomona and Community House. In 2014, Men's Shed Pomona moved to our current site at 1 School Street, Pomona. And we occupied what was a disused tractor and machinery shed that had been abandoned by Parks and Wildlife. At that stage, it was part of the national park. We did get an occupation permit that was valid for three years. And that was issued under the Forestry Act. In 2015, we wanted to expand and so we submitted a DA to Council. That was approved and a new shed was built adjacent to and abutting the existing shed. And we moved in there.

10:12 The tenure for the land was changed from the Forestry Act. To the Nature Conservation Act at some stage. And I don't know when. What that did was it immediately created inconsistent use issues. And it prevented further authorisation for tenure on the land. Effectively, at that stage, the Men's Shed became squatters. Responsible squatters, I might add. But squatters nonetheless. In 2017, we incorporated. So we're now an incorporated association. And we are registered as a charity. Our tenure on the land was un... It was unpermitted for a number of years. The solution to that problem eventually was to revoke the land from the national park. And put it under freehold title. That was done... That revocation went through Parliament in November 1922. And in May 1918... Sorry. 20... 22. We'll get there. In May 23, the title was given to the Department of Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation.

11:29 And it was managed by Queensland Parks and Wildlife. So Parks and Wildlife were originally our landlords. We were issued... We discussed the terms of and finally were issued with a licence to occupy. And that was issued on the 29th of February 2024. It was valid for 12 months with a 12-month extension. The first 12 months have gone. The 12-month extension... The 12-month option to extend has been exercised. And there will be no further extensions issued. No further options to occupy the land granted by the Department.

12:07 After we were issued the licence to occupy... That's why we began negotiations with the Department for a long-term lease. In late 2024, we were advised by the Department, or by Parks and Wildlife, that they had been told to get rid of any land that they have tenants on. And it includes not just us. It's the land where the Guindy Muster is, part of the land where the Woodford Folk Festival is. The Parks and Wildlife are landlords on those lands. For us, the issue is where we are. They've been told, get back to conservation. Do not be a landlord.

12:53 About two weeks ago, there was a letter sent from the Director-General of the Department to the CEO, asking Council to reconsider its position vis-à-vis the land. And it was a letter sent from the Director-General of the Department to the CEO, asking Council to reconsider its position vis-à-vis the land. Council position, as I understand it, since 2020, when a letter was sent from the Department to the then-Mayor Clive Stewart, Council has said, thanks, but no thanks. We're not interested in owning or managing the land. So that's where we are at the moment.

13:30 Well, what is tenure? What does it mean to us? And why do we need it? We've got a strategic plan that was developed in 2020. We have a site master plan that will be published in six to eight weeks. But we don't have, we don't have a hold on the land that we've got. I'll just read the next sentence, the next couple of sentences. Security of tenure is absolutely essential for any community-based organisation. Men's Shire Pomona does not have that security. Without the security. Existence on the site can only be viewed as temporary at best. The lack of a permanent home plays on the minds of any organisation and diminishes the concept of a safe place where people can gather. You can't be safe if you're going to be kicked out. That's at odds with our vision and our values and everything else. So what are the issues? We're unable to do any development. We're unable to raise any funds. We're self-supporting in terms of our operating budget. If we need to do any capital works or to do any extensions or any major maintenance on there, we need to get funding, whether it's from Council or State Government or anybody else.

14:51 We need that. It is a condition precedent of any funding application that you either own the land that you're on or you've got secure tenure over it and you have permission from your landlord to do those things. We've got none of that. So we can't raise any money. But we're walking around like penguins in the workshops. The land that we're on is currently zoned environmental management and conservation. Right next door to us, abutting us, is the land that Pomona Lions Club and the Scout Group are on. That block of dirt is zoned community facilities. To our southern border, the land is zoned media and social services. To our southern border, the land is zoned media and density residential. Across on the road on the other side of Squill Street, it's low density residential.

15:45 Anything that we do because of our zoning is immediately designated an inconsistent use, an inconsistent development. And it's problematic. We've already had one pre-lodgement meeting with the planning and development group about what we can do. We are space constrained. And therefore, we are membership capped. If we have space, we can grow. If we have more space, we can offer suitable spaces for other community groups to use the facilities. If we grow, we can support more members of the community. We have been approached by medical and health organisations who have referred their clients to MenShare. This is good for you. You should go and talk to them. Social prescription, I think, is the one to focus on. It's a wonderful buzz phrase that's used. Our capacity to accept such people is exceptionally limited because we do not have the facilities.

16:46 That's where we are. That's how we got here. What do we want? We want clarification and we want some decisions. We know the council, we know the department wants to offload. Clarification on council position. Has council's position changed since 2020? No. If yes, we would like to sit down at the table and negotiate a long-term lease. If no, we've actually put our hand up to the department and said, pick me, pick me. We would like to take over the land. At the moment, they've said, I'm not sure about that. But if we do do that, if you don't want it, we do. We would like your support in whatever form to assist us to get our hands on it. Our ability to add infrastructure is exceptionally limited. We're limited by the zoning that we have at the moment. Environmental management and conservation is exceptionally problematic for what we want to do. You can't do anything on the site. We would like the zoning changed to community facilities. Same as it is next door. There are community facilities next door. We're a community facility. Why not have the same zoning on the land? Open invitation. Come and have a chat with us at any time. Sit down, have a coffee. We'll show you around.

18:02 Thank you for listening.

18:03 Mayor Wilkie: Thank you, Mr Muller.

18:12 Look, we'll be organising a meeting with your group as quickly as possible, Mr Muller. We've got a lot to talk about. Thank you. We'll help where we can.