Melbourne Market sale bid: Opposition flags sale of $486m site
The Liberal-Nationals Coalition “would be open” to selling the Epping Melbourne Market to wholesalers, if it wins government.
Victoria’s Liberal-Nationals Coalition has flagged selling Melbourne’s $486 million wholesale fruit and vegetable market, if elected in 2026.
Coalition agriculture spokeswoman Emma Kealy said “we have thought about it and would be open to discussions with industry on how they could take over the asset”.
“Melbourne Market is already competing with Brisbane and Sydney, which are run by industry and use their assets a lot better.”
About 100 wholesalers and their service providers have been pushing to buy the 67ha site since 2018, following years of dissatisfaction with the government-appointed Melbourne Market Authority board and management, including a recent dispute over rent hikes.
The Weekly Times understands the wholesalers’ peak body, Fresh State, has already paid for a valuation of the Epping site and buildings.
As of June 30 this year the MMA’s property, plant and equipment was valued at $486m, compared to $455m in 2018 – an increase of barely 7 per cent in six years.
Fresh State chief executive Jason Cooper said Fresh State was “open to” exploring purchase options.
“We’ve been having ongoing discussions about this, the fact is if the rents go up, the sale price of anything is based on rental yield, if rent goes up we wouldn’t be able to buy the market and charge rent at that,” Mr Cooper said.
“We want to be able to control our own destiny in every other market. Victoria is the only government-owned market in the country.”
Wholesaler tenants have formed consortiums in other states to buy government-owned markets in Sydney, Newcastle, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth over the past 30 years, leading to major investments and upgrades of these sites.
Ms Kealy said she understood the Allan Government was also considering selling the market.
“I think they’re looking at selling it, but not necessarily to the wholesalers,” she said.
However when asked, Agriculture Minister Ros Spence’s office said “there are no plans to sell the Melbourne Market”.
MMA’s 2023-24 annual report shows it once again made a net operating loss of more than $8 million, despite collecting 6.3 per cent more in rent from wholesalers, who paid out $24.9m over the most recent financial year, compared to $26.48m in 2022-23.
The MMA is also still paying off $20.5m in borrowings from the Allan Government. Employee costs rose from $3.9m to $4.2m over the same period.
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