The Melbourne Market tenants collectively decided on 7 November to withhold rent from this week. Photo: Melbourne Market.
Fruit, vegetable and flower wholesalers from Melbourne Market are refusing to pay rent in the face of planned hikes that have been implemented by the Victorian Government-owned Melbourne Market Authority (MMA).
The tenants collectively decided on 7 November to withhold rent from this week when the first increased payments were originally due. Despite the MMA promising a temporary pause on the rent increases, there has been no indication it will agree to the wholesalers’ demands.
The market is one of six central fresh produce markets in Australia, and operates on a purpose-built facility on a 67-hectare site at Epping. Some 2750 businesses use the market as a base, while more than 2000 fruit and vegetable buyers – representing independent greengrocers, supermarkets, restaurants and food processors – source their produce directly from the venue.
Fresh State CEO Jason Cooper described the proposed rents as “unsustainable, unjust and unbelievable”.
“The MMA is continuing in their attempt to increase the rents by up to 7.62 per cent annually for the next decade, which will result in the rent more than doubling over that period,” he said.
“The fact is, we already pay the highest rents in the country, but instead of asking for a rent reduction, we’ve asked for the rents to not increase. It’s not too much to ask.
“Put simply, wholesalers shouldn’t have to absorb this and unfortunately, if the MMA refuse to take the pressure off, it’s the growers, retailers, and public who will pay the price.”
The decision to withhold rent comes after the wholesalers staged a protest at the Epping markets in October where they blockaded the entrance with forklifts as part of their ‘Take the Pressure Off’ campaign, and called for the resignation of the MMA’s Board, CEO and Management Team.
Fresh State claims the rent increases will have a significant impact on wholesalers by reducing their margins, meaning they will have to pass the burden on to growers and independent retailers.
It says this will affect buyers including restaurants, childcare centres and aged care homes, may force some wholesalers out of the market, and may reduce competition as it will be too expensive for new wholesalers to enter the market.
It says the MMA no longer represented or advocated for the interests of wholesalers, had promoted and defended the rent increase in the media prior to any decision having been made, and lacked an understanding of the wholesale industry and had made no effort to educate themselves about it.
It says the MMA is making it nearly impossible for Victorian wholesalers to compete against other interstate central markets, has shown no care for the impact of the rent increase on the availability and affordability of fresh fruit and vegetables as an essential service, and has no understanding of how the rent increase will damage the lives and livelihoods of wholesalers and independents.
The MMA has defended the proposed rent increases, with Chairman Peter Touhey telling the ABC in October that rents had previously been frozen during the COVID-19 pandemic, and that the new rents were based on data supplied by Valuer-General Victoria.
“We’ve got a big facility to manage, and we need to be able to have enough funds to be able to do that,” he said.
“The main driver for fruit and vegetable prices is availability of supply, so it’s seasonal conditions [and] demand.”
Premier Jacinta Allan said it was appropriate to increase rents at the Epping market over the next 10 years.
“The new modern Melbourne market at Epping is a great facility and we will continue to work with those stallholders to support them into the future,” she told the ABC.
