Noosa Today - 9th February 2024

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Friday, 9 February, 2024

There is only

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Dam upgrade underway

Getting bush food on tables

Seahorse Nippers bring smiles

32-page lift out Property Guide

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PAGES 16-17

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INSIDE

PR OP ER TY

Alba sadly wraps up By Phil Jarratt

Peter Kuruvita during the Alba construction, 2021.

Picture: ROB MACCOLL

A little over two years since he opened it with considerable fanfare, Noosa-based celebrity chef Peter Kuruvita and his staff have been unceremoniously shown the door at Alba by Kuruvita, his benchmark culinary centre, restaurant and cooking school in Noosa Heads. Financial backers, led by Rod McCready’s Altum Property Group, gave Mr Kuruvita just 24 hours’ notice that they would not be renewing his two-year contract. “I found out on Friday, and then we closed after Saturday night’s service,” Mr Kuruvita told News Ltd. “They engaged me, we created this beautiful place and the collaboration has come to an end. The decision to close was not mine, it was theirs and I feel like we were successful in what we set out to do.” Many would agree. Nestled in a quiet residential precinct above Lake Weyba and a chip shot from Noosa Springs Golf and Spa Resort, Alba serviced a mix of residents and tourists, for quiet lunches, group dinners, functions and, of course, cooking lessons from the one-time TV chef and master of Sri Lankan and other exotic Asian cuisines. Continued page 3

Digger Bar dispute By Abbey Cannan Membership suspensions, a social media ’smear campaign’, and the Diggers Bar potentially closing down has the Tewantin Noosa RSL Club and Sub Branch members hoping to soon come to a resolution in an ongoing dispute. The Tewantin Noosa RSL and Citizens Memorial Club was formed by the Tewantin Noosa RSL Sub Branch in 1981, and had its roots in the area currently known as the Diggers Bar.

But in 2024, the lease on the bar is set to expire, and a spokesperson for the Tewantin Noosa RSL said the Club was “denied the opportunity to exercise the option to renew or to consider a new lease, therefore cannot operate the Diggers Bar without a lease.“ Tewantin Noosa RSL general manager Michael Sue See sent out a member notice on Friday 2 February to provide clarity and transparency regarding recent “concerns and misinformation circulating regarding the closure of the Diggers Bar“.

Michael said that the Sub Branch president suggested a possible 46 per cent increase in rent in discussions regarding a new lease that they were yet to receive. Tewantin Noosa RSL Sub Branch secretary Kelli Ware said in 2021, when the Club reopened post-Covid, the Sub Branch agreed to a substantial reduction in rent for a period of three years. “In 2024 the Sub Branch indicated that they would offer a new lease on The Diggers Bar for a cost of $104K pa plus GST which is a figure

derived from the $90K plus five per cent every three years agreement,“ Kelli said. “The lease was to be drawn up by our lawyers as none of our volunteer are qualified to produce such a document.“ She said Commercial Real Estate Agents advised the Sub Branch that the current commercial rate was substantially higher than the $104K they are asking, but the Sub Branch Board agreed to honour the original agreement dating back to 2015. Continued page 3

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