Tecoma8<\/a>, were arrested and charged for occupying the roof of an old dairy building which had been slated for demolition.<\/p>\nNo McDonald’s in the Dandenong Ranges spokesperson Gary Muratore told No Fibs he would be very surprised if any of the candidates were in favour of the development.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe only ones to approach us directly were Labor, but they said it was a state issue. We assume The Greens support us, because Samantha Dunn is the local Greens councillor. But we’ve had no official statement from them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Muratore said Liberal candidate and former MP Jason Wood had not given the group a definitive statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can’t pin him down on a stance. He has been quite wishy-washy on the issue. \u201c<\/p>\n
Mr Wood, however, told No Fibs that he did not support the development.<\/p>\n
![\"Roof](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nofibs.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Roof-protester.-Pic-Janine-Watson-300x190.jpg?resize=300%2C190\")
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No Fibs contacted all of La Trobe’s candidates for their official response.<\/p>\n
Sitting MP Labor ‘s Laura Smythe said the VCAT ruling was a \u201cpoor decision\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201c I think that the VCAT decision on McDonald\u2019s at Tecoma was a poor decision. I think that it \u00a0was unrepresentative of the views of the broader community about a development that is inconsistent with residents\u2019 expectations and wishes for the local area.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was also disappointed that council didn\u2019t feel that it could appeal the decision further.\u201d<\/p>\n
She added that VCAT was intended to be always a forum through which people \u00a0who may not be able to afford legal representation could have their say on matters affecting them \u2013 and be heard.<\/p>\n
Liberal candidate and former La Trobe MP Jason Wood told No Fibs he believed the McDonald\u2019s did not suit the character of the Dandenong Ranges.<\/p>\n
He also said in a letter posted on the No Maccas in the Hills Facebook page that as a long-time local, \u201cI was an opponent when McDonald’s first tried to open in Belgrave about 25 years ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn regards to the Tecoma McDonald’s proposal, having lived in the Dandenong Ranges all my life, including 17 years in Belgrave, I am personally opposed to a local McDonald\u2019s \u00a0development as in my view it goes against the character of the Dandenong Ranges\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Woods said like many he was not happy with the VCAT decision and had taken the concerns to the state government.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have also offered to negotiate with McDonald’s Corporation in an effort to have the civil action against protestors withdrawn.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Greens’ Michael Schilling said McDonald\u2019s was an inappropriate development in the Dandenong Ranges.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe community said no. I believe McDonald’s should respect the rights of the community and respect the integrity of the community. McDonald’s should not go ahead.<\/p>\n
\u201cI’ve visited the site to hear the protester’s views on it and to give them moral support. I’ve also supported the campaign via social media.\u201d<\/p>\n
Palmer United Party \u00a0candidate Jason Kennedy said he was happy Tecoma was taking a stance.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy full-time gig is to host a fishing show called Fishin Trip<\/i>. One of my favourite destinations is Port Douglas. They were lucky not to get a McDonald’s in their main street, for obvious reasons.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey didn’t want hoons at midnight and rubbish blowing down the main street. There’s still fish and chips shops there.\u201d<\/p>\n
He told No Fibs he planned to visit the development site and meet protesters face-to-face<\/p>\n
Democratic Labour Party candidate Rachel Carling-Jenkins feared for local businesses.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe DLP believes that too often, small businesses and the local communities supported by these small businesses, are ripped off by big business.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to see healthy local economies develop in the LaTrobe electorate which are built on small businesses and will promote buy-local campaigns.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said once McDonald’s was in Tecoma, many other big companies would follow.<\/p>\n
Rise Up Australia Party’s Kevin Seaman did not respond to an email request for comment.<\/p>\n
\u00a0![\"Police](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nofibs.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Police-line-@TecomaPic-John-Weeks.--300x207.jpg?resize=300%2C207\")
<\/i><\/p>\n
More La Trobe posts here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Michelle Slater August 16, 2013 Residents of Tecoma, a small township in the La Trobe electorate, believe they have won the support of all local federal election candidates in their campaign to stop\u00a0the building of a McDonald\u2019s restaurant. The fierce two-year battle in the electorate\u2019s eastern foothills is far from over with protests ongoing, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":8301,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[3434,514,3546,585,1068,1067],"tags":[1128,1066,1070,1169,1069,1167,1168,1170,1171],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Pic-Amy-Linnea.jpg?fit=960%2C720&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3t0mw-29L","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8293"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8293"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8293\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57014,"href":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8293\/revisions\/57014"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Pic](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nofibs.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Pic-Amy-Linnea-300x225.jpg?resize=300%2C225\")
<\/p>\n