97% Said No-
But They Did It Anyway:
The Kwinana McDonald’s Betrayal

stressed mother with child

The Truth About the Kwinana McDonald’s Approval

How Local Voices Were Ignored:

The decision to build a new McDonald’s drive-through in the ALDI car park on Meares Avenue has left many Kwinana families frustrated. Looking closely at how the City of Kwinana Council and Premier Roger Cook’s State Government handled this project shows that everyday residents were squeezed out of the decision entirely—acting as a rubber stamp for state agendas rather than defending ratepaying locals.

97% of Residents Said NO

When the council asked locals what they thought, the response was overwhelming: 97% of residents voted against the proposal.

Locals raised severe, real-world concerns:

  • Losing Half the Parking: Slashing the ALDI car park in half, despite Kwinana being the second-fastest-growing city in WA.
  • Safety Hazards for Shoppers: Pedestrians and ALDI shoppers forced to navigate a heavily congested, high-traffic car park.
  • Environmental Loss: Cutting down three 50-year-old mature gum trees and removing valuable green space.
  • Traffic Gridlock: Diverting traffic from two-lane Gilmore Avenue into single-lane Meares Avenue, creating bottlenecking and spilling drive-through queues onto surrounding roads.
  • School Zone Hazards: Approving traffic crossings that directly intersect pathways used by school children.
  • 24/7 Noise Pollution: Round-the-clock drive-through speaker noise and 4:00 AM garbage trucks right behind residential homes.
  • Ratepayers Footing the Bill: Residents left paying $7,000 for traffic-calming roundabouts to fix problems created by the development.

Council Planners Gave It a Free Pass

Despite almost the entire community saying “no”—and these glaring issues—the Kwinana planning department raised zero objections to the submission.

Before the final vote occurred, the City of Kwinana’s own planning department submitted an official report to the State’s Development Assessment Panel (DAP) recommending approval. While two local councillors voted against the plan on the day, that vote was little more than a symbolic gesture. By handing the state panel a pre-packaged recommendation, council leadership ensured the outcome was practically decided before anyone walked into the room.

The “Working as Intended” Betrayal

When confronted on social media about overriding 97% of local feedback, Councillor Matthew Rowse publicly stated that the system is “working as intended.”

This admission exposes the depth of council’s failure to represent its people:

  • The Bureaucratic Shield: Councillors actively use State DAP laws as a convenient excuse to shirk responsibility. Instead of publicly fighting, passing formal council motions of opposition, or joining community rallies, they hide behind “planning guidelines” and administrative compliance.
  • Alignment with State Government over Locals: When 97% of local feedback is thrown in the trash, council functions as an administrative arm of Roger Cook’s State Government, prioritizing top-down state development mandates over local residential interests.
  • Questioning Ratepayer Value: If elected officials simply surrender authority to state planning panels without a fight, Kwinana residents are left asking why they pay local council rates at all.

Under planning laws backed by Premier Roger Cook, state-run assessment panels (DAPs) have the power to completely ignore local community surveys and council opposition. But when local representatives like Rowse embrace a system designed to silence 97% of their own community as “working as intended,” it proves local leadership has completely surrendered.

Angry Locals with Megaphones (ALWM Group) believes local planning should actually serve local people—not ignore them.