Batemans Bay Surf Life Saving Club patrols Malua Bay. Photos: Kim Treasure.
Since it opened, controversy has surrounded a new kiosk at Batemans Bay Surf Life Saving Club (SLSC) at Malua Bay. It coincided with the departure of a coffee van that had been operating on the nearby Malua Bay Crown Reserve for four years.
There was widespread speculation among residents that Eurobodalla Shire Mayor Mathew Hatcher, a member of the surf club who volunteers there, had played a role in both events.
It also led councillor Rob Pollock to lodge a formal complaint to the general manager about the circumstances around the kiosk’s opening.
The surf club also operates on Crown land, with council managing both sets of land.
A shire resident passed a copy of the formal complaint, dated 14 March 2026, to Region.
“Where council, as Crown reserve manager, facilitates or enables one commercial food and beverage operation (the surf club kiosk) to operate while simultaneously directing another established operator (the coffee van) to cease trading from Crown land under council’s control, this raises substantial competitive neutrality concerns,” Cr Pollock wrote.
That is the first of five complaints he detailed.
Cr Pollock questioned the apparent absence of proper authority for the cessation instruction for the coffee van, and the kiosk’s development approval status.
His fourth complaint concerns the commercial relationship between the kiosk and the surf club.
Finally, he questioned the mayor’s role. Was the mayor involved in the decisions around the coffee van ceasing operations or involved in facilitating or approving the kiosk’s establishment. Did the mayor have any personal, financial or non-pecuniary interest in the kiosk or its operators, and had those been properly disclosed?
The Batemans Bay Surf Life Saving Club kiosk.
Cr Pollock said there were no council resolutions addressing the coffee van ceasing operations, approval of the new commercial kiosk operation or its commercial lease or licence arrangements.
“Significant decisions regarding Crown reserve commercial activities should be publicly resolved by council, not determined administratively without transparency,” he wrote.
He requested formal acknowledgement of the complaint within 10 days, immediate referral to council’s public officer and the Office of Local Government, suspension of the kiosk’s operations pending investigations, and public notice of complaint and investigation process.
“I request that this complaint be treated with the seriousness it deserves, investigated promptly and independently, and that findings be publicly reported.” He told Region that after almost six months council’s response was “pathetic”.
Batemans Bay SLSC president Kate Hunt said the surf club had been there for 55 years and that the kiosk was being run as a volunteer-manned fundraiser for the club.
She said all surf clubs were struggling to keep their doors open. They patrol beaches, run Nipper programs, perform rescues and after-hours callouts for free, but still must pay overheads such as rates, internet and electricity and have very few ways to raise funds.
“When we undertook our renovation more than 10 years ago, we built into our venue the ability to have a kiosk to generate revenue so we can be sustainable,” Ms Hunt said. “Sub-letting is incredibly complicated so we have to run it ourselves.”
Ms Hunt approached Cr Hatcher for his help to get the kiosk up and running given he is a “hospitality expert”.
She said the kiosk only operated when the club was open, namely weekends, public holidays and between Christmas and Australia Day.
When the club first opened on the October long weekend, she approached the mobile van operator on the Monday public holiday because no mobile food operation on public land can be within 250 metres of an operational food and beverage business.
Given the coffee van only operated Monday to Friday Ms Hunt suggested they could try to work together. Ms Hunt said the coffee van operator had no interest in that.
When approached, Cr Hatcher said the club was approved under the DA to sell food out of the kitchen and that council had played no role in ordering the cafe van operator to move or facilitating the kiosk to open.
A council spokesperson said council was made aware of a kiosk opening within the surf club late last year. At the time, council confirmed that the existing development approval allowed for the surf club kiosk to be used as a food premises and that the surf club had registered as a food business. Council did not have any involvement in asking a coffee van to leave the area.
