The refusal of the Barcaldine Regional Council to grant mobile roadside vending permits to vegetable and seafood operators has sparked outrage locally and concern as far as the Queensland border as remote towns face the possible withdrawal of a service they depend on for fresh supplies.
Citing the need to support local businesses, councillors have rejected applications from a number of operators, and the effect of that decision on Charters Towers vendor Colin Holt has been causing the most concern.
Colin has operated a fortnightly fruit and vegetable service via a five tonne truck since 2012, running from Torrens Creek to Birdsville and Bedourie, incorporating sales in Aramac, Barcaldine, Jericho, Alpha, Longreach, Stonehenge, Jundah and Windorah and properties along the route.
He says he has been losing $2000 a time from his run since the council decided in June to issue a permit to trade in Jericho but not in Alpha, Muttaburra, Aramac or Barcaldine, which he says makes the whole run unviable and likely to close.
That possibility has rippled throughout the greater western region, where Colin has mobilised a range of support, including Bedourie, Birdsville, Jundah, Windorah and Jericho health clinics, the Diamantina Shire Council, the Windorah Development Board, his local member Shane Knuth, and a petition.
Bedourie’s Director of Nursing, Catherine Batey said the service had created “a form of competition” by breaking a local monopoly, which had resulted in lower prices and more variety in produce.
“It is not financially viable for Mr Holt just to service the western corridor of Windorah, Birdsville and Bedourie without having profited from sales along his extended route,” she said.
“If the eastern corridor blocks Mr Holt’s business, the residents of those communities have other shopping options open to them, even if it is travelling one or one-and-a-half hours to the next regional centre.
“Our closest option is Mount Isa, which is 500km away.”
Mr Knuth said the hours Mr Holt operated in the Barcaldine region – one hour in Barcaldine at 7.30 pm once a fortnight, and two or three hours in the other towns – seemed to be “very conservative and non-threatening to existing businesses”.
Colin is operating for nine hours in the Barcaldine region a fortnight.
Councillors Garry Bettiens, Sean Dillon and Jenni Gray were adamant in their opposition to the granting of a licence.
Cr Dillon cited a local law, which advised council to take competition with local business activities from fixed premises, and whether they were sufficient to meet public demand, into account.
“Local businesses have got to be able to have a fair opportunity to compete, and people who’ve invested in bricks and mortar in a town don’t have that advantage against someone coming in,” he said.
Cr Gray said people in local shops were “here for the long haul” and her decision was based on looking after small communities.
It was a similar story from Cr Bettiens, who added that a recent meeting of the Barcaldine Retention and Expansion group had voted unanimously against allowing itinerant vendors into the town’s sales mix.
Aramac shop owner Gary Peoples declared a Material Personal Interest and took no part in discussions.
First-term councillor, Milynda Rogers was the only person speaking in support of mobile vendors wanting to sell their wares in the region.
She believed the council had gone about the decision the wrong way, and could negotiate licence conditions that would mitigate local effects without banning the threat of competition.
“We can promote a shop local policy but it’s not our place to dictate where people shop,” she said. “You can’t censor the internet or build a wall to keep people in.”
Cr Rogers urged fellow councillors to think of neighbouring shires and their plight in making their decision, but Cr Dillon, who two years ago stood for LNP pre-selection for Gregory, said his concerns were for the region’s internal communities before neighbouring ones.
Aramac property owner Lesley Cowper has been vocal in her opposition to the council’s move, saying their argument was based on a false premise, that local business would suffer.
“Hawkers have always been part of outback life,” she said.
Vendor Colin Holt said he knew people thought he was “out to rape small communities”, a view he disputed.
“I used to put $400 worth of diesel in my truck at Alpha – that amounts to around $10,000 a year.
“I support so many things, even if it’s a bag of onions for the school event.
“The freshness of my product supports the communities because the customer is getting value.
“If I were to rape and pillage, I’d be in each community for eight hours to get every person.”
He said his activity amounted to less than 10 per cent of the local market.
In addition to refusing specific licences, the Barcaldine Regional Council has upgraded its annual licence fee, increasing it from $150 annually to $200 per community, or $1000 for the whole region.
In contrast, Longreach Regional Council has been charging $145 for a permit, and Blackall-Tambo $120.
Gold Coast vendors pay $595 and Cairns $795.