Mornington Peninsula Shire Mayor Anthony Marsh says he sympathises with the now-defunct Hastings Club but maintains that council had “little choice” in withholding financial support—stating the building should now be repositioned as a multi-use space for the broader community.

His comments, made during a recent interview with RPP FM, follow claims from Hastings Club board member Kevin Miles that delays by council in addressing urgent repairs contributed to the club’s financial collapse.

“By the time the work was done,” Mr Miles said, “the Club was effectively trading insolvent and had to fold.”

Mayor Marsh stopped short of accepting responsibility, instead framing council’s role as custodians of public assets:

“Our goal as council is to make sure that public assets are open for the broader public,” Marsh said.

“And I think the way this will probably go is that that building will hopefully be opened as a priority and that it will be looking to make it a multi-use facility for the broader Hastings community.”

He added that while council is “empathetic” toward the club’s demise, its priority is now future use of the building rather than the fate of the former tenant.

“The club itself, in terms of the entity, the Hastings Club—we completely empathise and sympathise with where they’ve ended up. But ultimately council’s position is to make sure the building can be utilised by the broader community once we get to that point.”

The building, which has long served as a local sporting and social hub, now faces an uncertain future. The public has been highly critical of council’s handling of the matter, with many pointing to it as another example of inaction in Hastings. The situation has continued to spark broader conversations around long-standing concerns of neglect in the Western Port area, as residents question whether their region receives the same level of attention and investment as other parts of the Shire.