Catherine Watson calls into McDonald’s to see what prompts so much fear and loathing.
By Catherine Watson
WHEN McDonald's opened in Rotorua (my home town) in 1981, Ronald McDonald and the city’s mayor jointly cut the ribbon and hundreds queued for their first Big Mac.
Protests? You’ve got to be joking. Rotorua was finally on the map.
Forty-five years later, don't expect to see Bass Coast Mayor Brett Tessari wielding the giant scissors if McDonald's opens in Cowes.
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Two weeks since Bass Coast Shire Council invited submissions on the proposed McDonalds restaurant in Cowes, there are already 98 letters of objection, with hundreds more apparently in the works. They are long, detailed and very angry.
Here is Objector No 1, for example, stating how s/he would be affected by the proposal.
There are just two letters of support and they are very brief.
Here is Objector No 1, for example, stating how s/he would be affected by the proposal.
- Negatively impact my children's experience of primary school
- Unnecessarily risking my children's safety while travelling to and from school
- Negatively impact my children's safety in regards to anti-social behaviour, carrying over to impacts on their school such as graffiti, vandalism, rubbish and drug paraphernalia being left in the school yard
- Huge and irreversible impact on our town's character, creating a loss of connection with the town and a loss of positive feelings towards where I have chosen to bring up my family
- Negative impacts on our beaches and wildlife - what we are known so well for could be diminished due to a multinational company.
There are just two letters of support and they are very brief.
"I believe this to be a positive development for the town, creating much needed employment and diversity. I view this proposal as a positive flow of development on the Island. This Planning Application has my full support."
Supporter No. 1
"Will provide jobs for young kids, somewhere to get coffee after 2pm, somewhere to stop after 8pm when everything else has closed. The site location is fine. and are looking forward to it. It will provide a place that my youngest can get a job and safely travel to from home."
Supporter No. 2
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On a brutally cold midweek afternoon I slip into McDonald’s Wonthaggi restaurant to see what prompts so much fear and loathing.
For all the McDonald’s bright colours and flashing menu, the atmosphere is strangely subdued – both staff and customers. There are at least 20 cars in the car park but barely a dozen customers inside. Elderly couples nurse coffees. Several people come in to use the toilets and go straight out. Despite the intense cold, most of the men wear shorts. Almost everyone stuffs long, limp potato strings into their mouths without seeming to notice them. There is an enormous ratio of packaging for what look like minute amounts of food.
The Wonthaggi McDonald’s and proposed Cowes applications are weirdly similar. Both are located at very busy intersections right at the entrance to town, and both are very close to primary schools.
I ask my neighbours and none of us can recall any opposition - or interest - when McDonald’s applied to open in Wonthaggi in 2005.
The Wonthaggi McDonald’s and proposed Cowes applications are weirdly similar. Both are located at very busy intersections right at the entrance to town, and both are very close to primary schools.
I ask my neighbours and none of us can recall any opposition - or interest - when McDonald’s applied to open in Wonthaggi in 2005.
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When you look at the plans for a McDonald’s “convenience restaurant” in Cowes, you might wonder why all the fuss about a fairly small café/takeaway, with seating for 50, and 16 on-site carparks.
Yet the opposition continues to build. By last Saturday, 5682 people had signed an online petition against McDonalds coming to Cowes. That’s about half the adult population of Phillip Island recorded at the 2021 census.
Of course we have no way of knowing how many of the signatories are local. Do they live in Toorak, Mildura, or anti-McDonalds enclaves like Northcote or Tecoma, communities that fought the multinational giant – and lost?
And what of those who didn’t sign, and haven’t put in an objection? Councils wrestle with this all the time. Do those people support the proposal – or don’t they give a damn?
Meanwhile, the petition starter has alerted the signatories that the petition only counts as a single objection and urged them to submit a formal application that will require them to state their address.
The hundreds of objections to the Cowes McDonald’s will persuade the councillors – who naturally seek to represent their community’s wishes – but the planning regime is not a numbers game.
Last year more than 11,000 people signed a petition against a McDonalds opening in High Street Northcote, dubbed “the coolest street in the world”. Darebin City Council duly rejected the application and in April the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) duly approved it, because the planning controls already permitted a restaurant use.
The Tecoma community, in the foothills of the Dandenong Ranges, valiantly fought off McDonald’s before VCAT over-ruled and allowed the Golden Arches. It opened in 2014. No doubt the objectors have never ordered a big Mac or McShake but there are plenty of customers from out of town who call in for a fix on their way to somewhere else.
In 2020 VCAT supported the Mornington Peninsula Shire Council's refusal of a McDonald's/BP proposal at Safety Beach because of planning issues including traffic and site layout. However, last April, six years on from the original application, VCAT approved a "McDonald’s-style" outlet on the same site.
Yet the opposition continues to build. By last Saturday, 5682 people had signed an online petition against McDonalds coming to Cowes. That’s about half the adult population of Phillip Island recorded at the 2021 census.
Of course we have no way of knowing how many of the signatories are local. Do they live in Toorak, Mildura, or anti-McDonalds enclaves like Northcote or Tecoma, communities that fought the multinational giant – and lost?
And what of those who didn’t sign, and haven’t put in an objection? Councils wrestle with this all the time. Do those people support the proposal – or don’t they give a damn?
Meanwhile, the petition starter has alerted the signatories that the petition only counts as a single objection and urged them to submit a formal application that will require them to state their address.
The hundreds of objections to the Cowes McDonald’s will persuade the councillors – who naturally seek to represent their community’s wishes – but the planning regime is not a numbers game.
Last year more than 11,000 people signed a petition against a McDonalds opening in High Street Northcote, dubbed “the coolest street in the world”. Darebin City Council duly rejected the application and in April the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) duly approved it, because the planning controls already permitted a restaurant use.
The Tecoma community, in the foothills of the Dandenong Ranges, valiantly fought off McDonald’s before VCAT over-ruled and allowed the Golden Arches. It opened in 2014. No doubt the objectors have never ordered a big Mac or McShake but there are plenty of customers from out of town who call in for a fix on their way to somewhere else.
In 2020 VCAT supported the Mornington Peninsula Shire Council's refusal of a McDonald's/BP proposal at Safety Beach because of planning issues including traffic and site layout. However, last April, six years on from the original application, VCAT approved a "McDonald’s-style" outlet on the same site.
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We don’t know how many communities have managed to stave off McDonald’s but we do know how many haven’t. At the end of 2025, according to McDonald’s 2025 annual report, 45,356 McDonald’s restaurants were operating in more than 100 countries.
It’s no good arguing that McDonalds will ruin the island vibe, that the food is crap, that their yob customers will throw their McRubbish out the window and that they will drive other cafes out of business.
It’s no good arguing that McDonalds will ruin the island vibe, that the food is crap, that their yob customers will throw their McRubbish out the window and that they will drive other cafes out of business.
So what are the chances of stopping McDonald’s? Not good but not impossible. The grounds for objection are very narrow and technical.
The proposed site on the corner of Thompson Avenue and Settlement Road, diagonally across from Cowes Primary School, does raise planning issues around traffic and school safety, particularly at drop-off and pick-up times.
Regardless of what the councillors decide, the matter will head for VCAT through an appeal, either by McDonald’s or objectors.
The site is in a Commercial 1 Zone (Thompson Avenue) and General Residential Zone (Settlement Road). The council – and inevitably VCAT – will have to decide whether a 24-hour outlet is compatible with residential use. The impact of noise, lighting and late-night activity on nearby residential properties will be assessed.
McDonalds 80-page traffic impact report argues that the site’s corner location, and access via Thompson Avenue, make it “conveniently accessible to the public (locals and visitors)”.
A Cowes McDonald's is unlikely to generate extra trips to Phillip Island but it will change where people stop once they're here. Locals know this is already a busy roundabout. In the summer holidays, there are long queues in every direction. The traffic also banks up at school pick-up times.
Those are all matters VCAT takes seriously if supported by expert evidence.
The proposed site on the corner of Thompson Avenue and Settlement Road, diagonally across from Cowes Primary School, does raise planning issues around traffic and school safety, particularly at drop-off and pick-up times.
Regardless of what the councillors decide, the matter will head for VCAT through an appeal, either by McDonald’s or objectors.
The site is in a Commercial 1 Zone (Thompson Avenue) and General Residential Zone (Settlement Road). The council – and inevitably VCAT – will have to decide whether a 24-hour outlet is compatible with residential use. The impact of noise, lighting and late-night activity on nearby residential properties will be assessed.
McDonalds 80-page traffic impact report argues that the site’s corner location, and access via Thompson Avenue, make it “conveniently accessible to the public (locals and visitors)”.
A Cowes McDonald's is unlikely to generate extra trips to Phillip Island but it will change where people stop once they're here. Locals know this is already a busy roundabout. In the summer holidays, there are long queues in every direction. The traffic also banks up at school pick-up times.
Those are all matters VCAT takes seriously if supported by expert evidence.
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After hearing a councillor's safety concerns for children from Cowes Primary School, I return to Wonthaggi McDonald’s to watch the after-school action.
It’s 3.30pm and here they come, streams of Wonthaggi Primary School kids racing down the hill on bikes and legs. To my surprise, they run or bike past McDonald’s without giving it a second glance.
Half a dozen race into the McDonald’s carpark where they pile into cars and are driven away. It’s clearly a convenient parking area for school pick-ups.
Three kids pile their bags into Nanna’s car and she shepherds them into the restaurant. A couple of kids park their BMX bikes in the bike rack and head inside for chips or ice creams.
The expected after-school mayhem never really happens.
It’s 3.30pm and here they come, streams of Wonthaggi Primary School kids racing down the hill on bikes and legs. To my surprise, they run or bike past McDonald’s without giving it a second glance.
Half a dozen race into the McDonald’s carpark where they pile into cars and are driven away. It’s clearly a convenient parking area for school pick-ups.
Three kids pile their bags into Nanna’s car and she shepherds them into the restaurant. A couple of kids park their BMX bikes in the bike rack and head inside for chips or ice creams.
The expected after-school mayhem never really happens.
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None of that proves Cowes has nothing to worry about. The traffic questions are real, and so are the concerns around school safety and amenity of neighbours.
The planners will weigh the evidence. The councillors will weigh the politics. VCAT will have the final say and whichever way it goes Cowes will learn to live with it.
The planners will weigh the evidence. The councillors will weigh the politics. VCAT will have the final say and whichever way it goes Cowes will learn to live with it.