As a result of the vote of no confidence in the Melbourne Market Authority on the 17th of July, Fresh State, the only member organisation representing the interests of Melbourne Wholesalers and associated service industries at the Melbourne Wholesale Fruit and Vegetable Market, have now met with the Hon. Jaala Pulford, the Minister for Agriculture, about the issue of market costs skyrocketing.
In the meeting between the Minister for Agriculture Jaala Pulford and Fresh State, we finally received some much anticipated news about rent increases. Although we were previously warned that these costs would substantially increase, the minister confirmed for us that we now can expect a maximum rent increase of 4% compounding annually. The question still remains as to why the rents continue to climb by this margin when CPI is growing at half that rate. This ever-increasing cost also doesn’t take into account the 4% compounding rent increases since moving to Epping. We are thankful that the minister took the time to meet with us and work on this issue that has been a point of serious concern for the Melbourne Market wholesalers, but the regularity that concerns arise at the market assures us that this is not the end of our troubles.
The Melbourne Market Authority recently doubled the cost of glycol (cooling) in the market, and a jump of prices that high has the potential to greatly injure occupants’ hope of running a sustainable business. This cooling system was not one the wholesaler’s chose but was put in place by the MMA instead of letting the wholesalers run their own refrigeration systems, which makes the rising prices even harder to swallow. When you combine this most recent cost increase with the equally dubious deal that was done on electricity at the time, it begs the question about who exactly is making these decisions within the MMA, and who ends up paying the consequences of those decisions.
It is these kind of miserly tactics and the repeated overlooking of issues that are continually raised through Fresh State and the supposed Fruit and Vegetable Wholesaler “Advisory” Committee that led to the vote of no confidence in the MMA’s governing of the market in the first place.
For wholesalers who had such high hopes for the Epping Market and invested an at least circa $100 million dollars collectively to fit out their businesses, this new market is only seeming to further reveal itself as a death-knell for sustainable market businesses at the hands of the MMA.
For more information;
Fresh State
Tel: 03 9408 6627
Email: info@freshstate.com.au