Preston Market

Preston Market is the Heart of the North. I will fight to put it in public hands so our community can decide its future.

Preston Market is more than somewhere to shop. It is one of the most important civic and cultural places in Melbourne's north — a place where people shop, meet, eat, celebrate and connect. For decades, generations of traders and shoppers have made the market what it is today. But the land remains privately owned, and decisions about its future continue to be driven by redevelopment.

The current proposal would retain much of the existing market while introducing approximately 900 apartments across eight towers of between 8 and 16 storeys, alongside additional retail and commercial development.
I believe we can do better.

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If elected, I will fight to bring Preston Market into public ownership. Public ownership would give us the opportunity to think differently about the future of the site: protecting the market, supporting its traders and allowing the community to have a genuine say in how this important piece of Preston evolves.

That doesn't mean Preston should never change. Our population is growing and we need more housing, including genuinely affordable and public housing. But development should complement the market rather than overwhelm the very thing that makes this place special.

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Currently Preston Market is the only privately owned Market. Queen Victoria Market is owned by the City of Melbourne, Prahran Market is owned by Stonnington City Council, South Melbourne Market is owned by the City of Porth Phillip, and Dandenong Market is owned by the City of Greater Dandenong.

What I will fight for

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• Bring Preston Market into public ownership.

• Protect the market as a working fresh-food market and community meeting place.

• Protect existing traders and the market's affordability and diversity.

• Give traders and the wider community a meaningful role in decisions about the market's future.

• Create a genuine public town square and civic heart for Preston.

• Support appropriate housing around the market, including genuinely affordable and public housing.

• Preserve the character, heritage and cultural significance that generations of traders and shoppers have created.

 

Preston is changing rapidly. Thousands more people will call our neighbourhood home in the decades ahead. That makes Preston Market more important, not less.

Let's protect the Heart of the North and put its future in community hands.