Thursday, 5 July 2012

Traders Ask Management To Delay TAC Elections

Although there had been some suggestion of a new trader’s election back in May, the formal declaration for a new election process didn't come until 25th June. That left barely three weeks before nominations closed on 16th July.
Management are keen to repopulate the TAC in readiness for a variety of issues that will require trader consultation following what appears to be a  landmark briefing due on 12th July. In recent times, General Merchandise representatives have been the only regular trader attendees at TAC meetings. We support the move to make the TAC more representative of all trader groups at the market (deli, fruit, vege, meat, and fish) and for it to consider major reforms. If the TAC is to become a significant forum again, this election deserves a considered response. Foremost in our minds is nominating the best possible General Merchandise Traders to represent us and three weeks just isn't long enough to do that.  ....cont'd - click on the post heading for the full article.


We have some concerns regarding the structure and formation of the TAC as it applies to General Merchandise Traders. For instance, at this point, only two positions are available for PE Traders (currently held by John Magno and Michael Presser) and two positions for SL Traders (one position currently held by Peter Auden, and one position vacant). It so happens that traders willing to represent their fellow traders largely come from the PE group. Management have advised that only traders within a group can be nominated for that group so a PE Trader cannot nominate for a SL Trader vacancy. We would have thought a General Merchandise Trader is a General Merchandise Trader no matter what type of license he or she holds.

So, you can see there are some issues to work through and that is one of the reasons we have made a formal request to delay the process for 4-6 weeks so we can give this, and other matters the attention they deserve. It should be noted that the Australian Electoral Commission has told us there is no impediment to delaying the election. They simply respond to instructions from the election instigator, the QVM, and no penalties are applied for changes.

We hope to hear from management shortly.