‘You can’t spend your whole life trying to stop a McDonald’s’: how the fast-food chain keeps opening new Australian stores

McDonald’s is ‘prepared to wait years’ when it wants to open a new store in the face of community opposition, an expert says. Photograph: Daniel Pockett/Getty Images

When a McDonald’s representative appeared before a local council in Melbourne on Monday night to defend its plan for a new 24-hour store in the area, he tried to reassure locals the proposal was “modest and efficient”.

Despite that, Darebin city council listened to impassioned submissions – including a petition of more than 11,000 signatures – and voted 6-3 to reject the plan to open an outlet on trendy High Street in the inner-north suburb of Northcote.