Media Releases

Produce from Victoria’s world-acclaimed food bowl is set to become the centrepiece of Sydney’s markets thanks to the incompetence of the Brumby Labor Government.
Shadow Minister for Agriculture and Deputy Leader of The Nationals Peter Walsh said Sydney was exploiting uncertainty surrounding the relocation of the Melbourne Wholesale Fruit, Vegetable and Flower Market in a bid to poach Victorian producers.
“Sydney Markets held information sessions for Victorian growers in Shepparton this week in an attempt to lure them north,” Mr Walsh said.
“Sydney is looking to capitalise on the frustrations of growers who have been frozen out of the relocation of the Melbourne Wholesale Markets.”
Mr Walsh said the redevelopment of Melbourne’s new market was lagging a year behind schedule and had been dramatically scaled back.
“The Brumby Government’s incompetence has jeopardised Victoria’s food producing sector,” Mr Walsh said.
“The redevelopment of the Melbourne Market is now a year behind schedule and the project is looming as another of Labor’s failed public-private partnerships.
“Victorian Agriculture Minister Joe Helper was pulled from the project after he botched the negotiations between the developers and the stakeholders.
“The first developer was dropped in controversial circumstances and a private consortium of growers and wholesalers has now broken away and announced their intention to build a private market in Dandenong.
“Regional fruit and vegetable retailers have also been disadvantaged by the government’s operational changes in favour of the big supermarket chains.”
Mr Walsh said the Brumby Government’s failure to manage the project had left Victorian producers open to selling in Sydney.
“Victoria produces more than 800,000 tonnes of vegetables each year and grows 40 per cent of the nation’s cut flowers,” Mr Walsh said.
“The Goulburn Murray irrigation district accounts for $2.2 billion or just under a quarter of Victoria’s total annual food production.
“The Brumby Government’s incompetence has given Sydney the opportunity it has been waiting for to muscle in on northern Victoria’s lucrative fresh produce sector,” Mr Walsh said.