A stand-off over public liability insurance could end in eviction for a popular farmers’ market operating for free in a council park in south-east Queensland.
Every Saturday morning at Three Creeks Farm Stall, small-scale farmers cut out middlemen to sell to locals at Eileen Hose Park, south-west of Gympie.
Three Creeks Farm Stall has been operating from Eileen Hose Park for three years. (ABC Rural: Jennifer Nichols)
They grow fresh seasonal fruit and vegetables, including varieties supermarkets do not stock because they would perish on long trips to and from central markets.
As Australia grapples with skyrocketing fuel prices and supply chain issues, stallholders say the market provides local food security.
As local as it gets
Herb grower and market co-founder Sarah Niemand said all the seasonal fruit and vegetables they sold travelled less than 10 kilometres to Pie Creek.
“We don’t allow any form of trader, so anyone standing here is selling what they [or their families] produced,” Ms Niemand said.
Sarah Niemand says she is confident her farm insurance covers her at the markets. (ABC Rural: Jennifer Nichols)
“You can’t buy anything in and sell it for a profit. There’s no flea market, there’s no bric-a-brac, it’s just food.”
Gympie State High School farmhand Trevor Tramacchi sells students’ produce for them at the market. (ABC Rural: Jennifer Nichols)
Eviction looms
But after three years, the market is facing eviction because stallholders have not met Gympie Regional Council’s request for specific farmers’ market public liability insurance.
Ms Niemand said the council had asked them to form an incorporated association to obtain the cover, which would collectively cost them between $1,300 and $1,500 a year.
She said her insurance broker assured her that broad-form farm insurance protected farmers at the market.
Phoenix Farm owner John Brady is an experienced local grower. (ABC Rural: Jennifer Nichols)
“We are insured, just not in the way that council would like to see it done,” Ms Niemand said.
“I don’t feel like it benefits anyone to form an incorporated association, to have to maintain that structure both financially and in terms of time.”
The stallholders are gathering signatures to petition council. (ABC Rural: Jennifer Nichols)
Petition launched
Loyal customer Louise Nichols has signed the farmers’ petition asking the Gympie council to change local laws to allow the activity and support primary producers.
“We’ve got food security here,” Ms Nichols said.
“With all the cost of transport to get goods into his area, why aren’t we supporting our own area first?”
Louise Nichols does not want to lose the farmers’ market. (ABC Rural: Jennifer Nichols)
Mayor says ratepayers at risk
Gympie Mayor Glen Hartwig said the issue was not about local laws but having appropriate public liability insurance, which would cost about “$3 a week per stallholder”.
“We can’t turn a blind eye to it forever because if something happens at that site, the lawyers won’t go and sue the farmers,” he said.
Glen Hartwig says he has to protect ratepayers from potential claims. (ABC News)
“They will come straight to ratepayers, straight to the council and say: ‘Well, you allowed them to be there. You knew they didn’t have public liability insurance. We are going to chase you.’
“The ratepayers will be the ones that pay.”
Council has been providing the park to stallholders for free. (ABC Rural: Jennifer Nichols)
The mayor said he grew up farming small crops and that the council had been very supportive.
It was not charging farmers to use the council-owned park and had offered to help develop a traffic management plan.
Councillor Hartwig said public liability insurance was a standard requirement for markets across the region.
Agritourism Queensland president Kay Tommerup says she has taken out separate public liability insurance. (Supplied: Jack Harlem)
Age of litigation
Agritourism Queensland president and dairy farmer Kay Tommerup said her family had farm insurance, but also paid for an additional policy.
“It’s completely separate as a public and product liability cover and specifically mentions that we host on-farm markets and that we attend off-farm markets,” Ms Tommerup said.
“We’re covered for both situations.”
Ms Tommerup offered to discuss her “lived experience” with the farmers.
She said most of the markets she attended asked for a copy of a certificate of currency to prove they were protected against public liability claims.
“I have to say, I’m not paying a fortune for that policy,” she said.
Unwanted red tape
But the stallholders said an extra layer of insurance was red tape they did not require.
“Without a corporation, we can still be self-sufficient,” market co-founder Julie-Ann Payne said.
Julie-Ann Payne wants council to leave stallholders alone. (ABC Rural: Jennifer Nichols)
“We don’t need someone telling us how to live.”
The Insurance Council of Australia has been approached for comment.