Fresh state calls on Melbourne Market Authority board to resign

Victorian fruit and vegetable wholesalers are calling on the Melbourne Market Authority (MMA) board to resign over a major rent dispute.  

The government-owned MMA, which serves as the market’s landlord, plans to increase the annual rent for its wholesaler tenants by over 100 per cent over the next ten years. 

According to Fresh State, the increase will be between 6.72 per cent and 7.6 per cent, compounding year on year for ten years, meaning it will reach more than double in that time. 

Speaking on behalf of its wholesaler members, Fresh State chief executive Jason Cooper said the proposed rent increase was a “complete stuff-up” which would not only push fruit and vegetable prices up, but also push wholesalers out of business, and push families, restaurants, and grocers to the brink.  

Cooper said the board and its chief executive had lost the trust of market tenants because they no longer represented or advocated for the interests of wholesalers.  

He argued the MMA were in direct violation of the Melbourne Market Authority Act 1977, which mandates a “fair and competitive environment for the wholesale trading of produce” and had taken steps to decentralise the market rather than foster unity, which was a primary objective when the first wholesale market was established in 1878.  

“The MMA appears to have lost sight of why the wholesaler market was established back in 1878. It was never intended to be a profit-making venture at the expense of wholesalers, yet that’s precisely the path the MMA is now taking,” Cooper said.  

In response to the increase, Fresh State launched the ‘Take the Pressure Off’ campaign on behalf of its wholesaler members, aiming to take the pressure off fruit and vegetable prices and temporarily freeze rent at the wholesale market.  

Cooper said the campaign sought to establish a viable, long-term commercial arrangement for wholesalers. He emphasised the campaign would gain momentum in the coming days and weeks.