Following Friday’s eviction of protesters from the proposed Tecoma McDonald’s site, residents have responded immediately with a reoccupation. Taking advantage of an open side entrance, over 60 local residents met again at the community garden and playground that had been built on the site.
“There is no problem that cannot be better solved with a good cup of tea” was the old dictum followed by residents, and so a grand Devonshire Tea party was the means of determining the next step in resisting a totally inappropriate 24/7 fast food outlet in the Dandenong Ranges.
“Bolstered by the wave of sympathetic media coverage in the last 2 days, hundreds of new supporters have joined our social media campaign to influence McDonald’s not to build an outlet in one of Melbourne’s most beautiful panoramic settings” said community campaigner Karl Williams.
Mr. Williams continued, “While we did have a number of grounds to appeal to the Supreme Court the VCAT decision that ruled in favour of McDonald’s, neither the council nor residents were prepared to put up the half million dollars required to take on McDonald’s. But we’ll side-step these corporate bully-boy tactics and instead turn this into a public relations disaster for McDonald’s.”
A highlight of the tea party was the fastening of the People’s Padlock on the security gates to the site, symbolic of the retaking by the community of the land. Local resident Emily Hehir summed it up as, “As local residents overwhelming opposed to McDonald’s, we feel it’s our right to have a say in what impacts our home. Our democratically-elected local council has been overridden by an unelected VCAT tribunal which has given no weight to the volume of objections in its decision.”
When police arrived 3 hours into the tea party, occupants were asked to leave and duly complied. But a range of other actions are planned, and this week community members are meeting with Victorian Planning Minister Matthew Guy to discuss community concerns. Mr. Guy has also expressed his concern with the legal process and how VCAT ignores the weight of community opinion in its planning judgments.
High Tea in the Garden – Sunday 11th November
