Tuesday, 20 June 2023

 Nathan LAMBERT (Preston) (13:25): I rise to draw the house’s attention to three petitions that have been gathered regarding the Preston Market. The first is an online petition that has been organised by Darebin City Council, and to date it has attracted 15,000 signatures. The second petition is one organised by the Save the Preston Market Action Group, and to date it has attracted 12,000 handwritten, physical signatures, and we hope to table it later this week. Finally, there is a more recent petition organised by some of the traders at the market. It has only been in circulation for a couple of weeks, but it has already attracted over 10,000 signatures. That particular petition notes that most traders will not survive an extended period of closure at the market, and it asks the Victorian government and the landlords to reach a compromise that makes the livelihood of traders a top priority and ‘ensures our businesses don’t lose a single day of trade’. There are some things you could say about that final phrase in particular, but I just want to draw the house’s attention to the general sentiment of that petition. One of the reasons people shop at the market is because they like buying from people they know, who they consider their friends and their family, and there is growing concern in the community and certainly among the traders and workers themselves at the way in which they are being treated and the actions of some people who are purporting to speak in their interests but are really acting in their own interests. I draw these three petitions to the attention of the house.