Peita Gardiman just wanted to help out a local business. Council didn't see it that way.
Exclusive: Peita Gardiman planned a small community swap meet to help locals make some extra cash before Christmas, only to be slapped with a $6000 fine.
Tweed Shire Council fined Gardiman and Murwillumbah Leagues Club for hosting the event without the proper approvals.
But Gardiman said the punishment doesn't fit the so-called crime.
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Especially given that NSW just overhauled the rules governing outdoor community events in the state.
"The scale of the penalty for a small flea market like that is just outrageous," Gardiman told nine.com.au.
"It should have been a warning letter or something."
Have you got a story? Contact reporter Maddison Leach at mleach@nine.com.au
Late last year Gardiman worked with Murwillumbah Leagues Club to host a swap meet on the club's oval.
Club general manager Mark Wakefield told nine.com.au the goal was to bring the community together, not turn a profit.
Tweed Shire Council said a market could not go ahead without development consent.
Development applications start at $147 in Tweed Shire Council.
"We offered to provide advice and warned that undertaking development without consent attracts 'notices of up to $6000,'" a Tweed Shire Council spokesperson told nine.com.au.
Gardiman initially cancelled the event.
She claimed the club got in touch a few weeks later to say it was allowed to go ahead.
"I in good faith thought that they had got their approval from Council and so went ahead with the market," she said.
But Wakefield claimed the event didn't count as a market and didn't require development consent under new rules introduced in September 2025.
Last year NSW state introduced the new Cultural State Environmental Planning Policy, under which events like street fairs and community festivals don't need development consent to go ahead on public land.
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The policy has made it cheaper and easier for NSW communities to host public events.
But it doesn't apply to private land like the Murwillumbah Leagues Club oval.
The swap meet went ahead in December with about 13 local families in attendance.
"These weren't people trying to turn a profit," Gardiman said.
"They were just trying to make a few dollars on things they had at home, kids making some money before Christmas, that sort of thing."
A few weeks later, she and Murwillumbah Leagues Club each received a $6000 fine.
A Tweed Shire Council spokesperson told nine.com.au the fines were issued because the market never obtained the required development consent.
"After the letter on 24 November, responses were received from all parties involved showing they received the cautions, yet proceeded anyway," the spokesperson said.
"The fine amount ... is determined by the NSW Environmental Planning & Assessment Act 1979 and its Regulation – Council does not control the size of the fine."
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Gardiman acknowledged Tweed Shire Council's position but said fining her $6000 for a "tiny" one-off community event is excessive.
She fears the fine could put her out of business and, in turn, affect small local businesses that rely on the markets she hosts to get by.
Wakefield said the fine is more than half of what the club makes in quiet months and will cripple its ability to support the local sports teams that rely on it for funding.
"This is not how you support small businesses and create a vibrant community," Gardiman said.
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A Change.org petition calling Tweed Shire Council to review the fines has already attracted more than 100 signatures.
Tweed Shire Council spokesperson said any challenge to the fine needs to be directed through Revenue NSW.
Gardiman is also calling for the development exemptions for community events on public land to be extended to events on private land too.
She hopes it might prevent others from being stung.
A Tweed Shire Council spokesperson said it must apply the rules as they're currently written.
"While we understand the intent of these markets was not broadly big business, we are obligated to enforce the rules that exist so that the process is fair for everyone."
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