Stallholders plea to Fremantle Council (again)

Colin Wright speaking at the rally in Jan 2010.

2 years ago, many stallholders attended the Special Meeting of the Fremantle Council to hear the decision on the Market Lease. It would affect many of our lives and we were all interested in the outcome. Stallholders were divided on who should run the markets, as was the council, and this was reflected in the 7-6 vote to return the lease to the Murdoch family.

During this period many promises, guarantees and commitments were made but one outstanding quote by Jamie Murdoch sums up the duplicity of what has been allowed to happen since that evening.

In response to this question from Cr. Bill Massie

“So the current stallholders are guaranteed security?"

Jamie answered: quote
“We don't want to lose any stallholders, we want all the stallholders we have to come along. We have 200 stallholders who are all fantastic people, who we want to continue. We don't want to preclude any stallholders from anything. We want to give them the opportunity to come along for the next 10-20 years.”

He also went on to tell councillors, on many occasions throughout his presentation, that the Fremantle Markets would remain:
Firstly: a secure low cost trading environment and that they would put policies in place to do this.

And Secondly: as part of their Fremantle Markets Business Plan they would offer stallholders security of tenure with new 5 year agreements and 5 year options .

So as you can imagine, to the councillors listening to his presentation, the stallholders were going to be looked after, and I believe that that was important to most of them.

So what changed once the lease was signed?

What’s happened inside these walls and at Council that continually keeps the Markets dispute in the papers and causes a stallholder like Ed Seah to organize this rally.

Simple…the guarantees weren’t honoured and now about 40 of those stallholders… “the ones who Jamie said were all fantastic people” were, either priced out, relocated, downsized, or simply no longer wanted at the markets i.e. evicted.

The problem then for council was that they had also had made guarantees, in a public meeting, to all the stallholders and six of the councillors, that our businesses would be safe, under the new lease…Mark Scott even asked the question twice … he wanted to be sure. The ex-mayor also endorsed this point of view…

So what ever happened to those guarantees …We’ve asked Council, many times, but they have never answered those questions. We’re asking again today, for Ed and all the others who have lost their businesses:

…why have you failed to honour your guarantees?

Let’s also look at another of the Murdoch commitments,that of a:

“Low Cost Trading Environment”. This was a crucial component for stallholders and also a cornerstone of their presentation to Council. Markets need low rents in order to remain competitive. What has been allowed to happen, with the exorbitant rent hikes, now sees our rents higher than most in the Freo CBD and up with the most expensive market rents in the country. These unsustainable increases coincided with the Global Financial crisis, a weakening retail environment and greater insecurity surrounding small business. The timing couldn’t have been worse.

With these rent hikes we’ve lost our competitive advantage, prices have to go up or you go broke; and that’s what is happening. A market by definition must offer value for money, otherwise it becomes another shopping centre minus the trimmings; no air conditioning, no free parking and no terrazzo floors. How can stallholders possibly maintain market prices on their goods when they are being slugged like this? The high rents and overheads are driving established businesses out, while at the same time, new stallholders are apparently given the incentive of subsidized rents - to fill the empty stalls which are starting to appear.

Empty stalls are a new phenomena - it’s unheard of over the last 30 years.

Remember in all this, Council only passed on a modest 12% rent increase with the new lease to the Murdoch’s. Stallholders on the other hand have been slugged between 50% –100% and in some case considerably higher. They say it’s “Fair Market Rent” and the independent valuation proves it. We say it’s no longer the low cost environment you promised and the exodus of stallholders shows this.

If 40 businesses disappeared from along South Terrace, Market or High Street, Council and the Chamber of Commerce would swing into action as a matter of urgency. When it happens inside these walls everybody, including the new mayor, duck for cover. They hope it will eventually go away but it won’t, not before, before more lives are shattered through the decisions and unwillingness to act by the council. These are small family businesses and in Ed’s case, he supports three children as a single parent and a sick and aging father who started this souvenir business 30 years ago.

It’s ironic that the Murdoch’s, who threatened to run the markets into the ground if they didn’t win the lease cited their family’s long and successful connection with the market as a major reason why they should retain it.

It’s typical then of this management, that Ed and the other long term family businesses, which have been forced out, could not argue their long term connection with the markets entitled them to have their lease renewed as well. (photo of Eds dad who also ran the stall for many years)
What’s also maddening is that these very stallholders, who have lost their livelihoods, are now publicly criticized by Jamie Murdoch for generating bad press and ruining the trade for those who remain. Nothing could be further from the truth! However, we should not be manipulated into silence through guilt, when the real reason for poor trading and loss of regular customers can be levelled at management decisions, rather than ex stallholders telling their story to the papers.

On a Wednesday night, 12 months ago, 100 stallholders filled the Council Chamber and told their stories of how they were being affected. Emails flooded the CEO’s in box, the message was clear and unequivocal: Our businesses are under threat, we cannot sustain the rents, people will leave - what are you going to do? Fremantle Markets is an icon - the time to act is now.

One possible conclusion to draw from this is that the Fremantle City Council condones the action of the Markets management and their treatment of stallholders.

Brad Petitt told the Herald that “Council is bound by the head lease and are not responsible for the day to day running of the Markets.” That’s not completely true because through the “Fremantle Markets Operating Strategy”, a key component of the head lease: Council has the flexibility to alter the lease, hold management accountable and to govern the direction the market takes. Changes can be made through the Markets Working Group but they haven’t chosen to take this course of action.

Maybe they are comfortable with this mayhem?"

I don’t believe they are; and for the councilors, both those who supported or opposed the lease, there is a growing sense of injustice and wrong in the way this is being handled. The councillors, who voted for this lucrative lease, and the officers who recommended it, should acknowledge that what was promoted and sold to them by the Murdoch’s, to support the Markets remaining in their hands, is not what has been delivered.

The awarding of the Fremantle Markets lease, without an open tender process, was always going to be clouded in controversy and what has happened since reinforces that view:

1. “Why hasn’t the Council enforced the Business Plan”?

2. Were misrepresentations made to council which contravenes the Trade Practices Act?

3. Would the council seriously investigate this for fear of uncovering incompetence within their own walls?

In the meantime, the Ed’s and other small business operators who believed the Council were looking after their interests now find themselves without their business - their livelihoods - their goodwill - their income or their superannuation.

To Brad Petitt, the Fremantle Council and the new councillors: This fiasco continues to degenerate; it’s an ongoing public disgrace. Six more stallholders have left this month; more are lining up to go.

Don’t keep sweeping it under the table, act to defend what is right and just here…show leadership on this issue.

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