Letter to Fremantle councillors

Dear Councillors,

One of the major problems spoken about at last Tuesdays Special Council meeting related to the duplicitous nature of the public information FMPL distributed prior to the awarding of the head lease. A market newsletter and email clearly suggested “the conditions” (eg low cost environment, 5 + 5 tenure) under which stallholders were asked to support FMPL. (Fremantle Markets Pty Ltd)

The FMPL presentation to council (contained within the March 2008 Special Council minutes) also reflects these commitments.

Once the head lease was signed all this went out the window. This is at the core of stallholder’s anger. Many now feel they were tricked into supporting FMPL. Knowing what they know now, stallholders would not have supported them.

Other councillor’s may also have rejected their business plan. We tried to alert our members but the major division inside the markets at the time and the continual deriding of the Association made our job difficult. Even with these restraints, the Dowson initiated Catalyse survey never revealed overwhelming FMPL support and most of the issues raised therein by stallholders remain today.

FMPL connived to withhold information such as the size of their rent hikes, the extent of their food redevelopment and the downsizing of businesses to accommodate this. Worst than this they purposely promoted a public perception which did not accurately reflect their intentions. Surely this makes a mockery of council’s public submission process and treats the councillor’s with contempt.

It is implausible that the Murdoch brothers, both qualified accountants, negotiating the business plan and lease for a major public asset for the next 18 years would not have known the extent of the rental increases they intended to pass on. A projected cash flow would have been integral to their planning.

Not all of us were gullible however they did enough, with the considerable help of the mayor, to win the lease.

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