And while the punters might be up in arms, it is the locals of Charlton, population 1288, which hosts the festival at Wooroonook Lakes, who are fighting hardest to ensure the event goes ahead. The descent of thousands of festival goers in bright costumes may be unusual for a sleepy country town – but their presence is keeping the place afloat. Last year's event put an estimated $2.1 million in the pockets of local businesses, according to the promoters' permit application. Charlton Forum chairman Alan Getley​ said he had more than 420 signed petitions from local residents calling for the event to go ahead. A "Save Maitreya" Facebook group started by locals this week has nearly 2000 members. "It's tough times out here. The overwhelming majority of the townspeople support it," Mr Getley said. "(The festival patrons) are friendly, they're lovely, they'll talk to us. They've got piercings in places I wouldn't, but that doesn't matter. On the whole they have great respect for the local area. "We have some 400 volunteers who man a community barbecue, which is a lot of fun for the community," Mr Getley says. "They provide jobs for 21 sporting groups throughout the town – we provide the rubbish service, traffic wardens, cleaning of the toilet area. The fire brigade receive $10,000, we receive $20,000 to distribute as a community fund. This is all money that the community doesn't have to find."

And the economic benefits spread beyond Charlton, with businesses in nearby towns Donald and Wycheproof all seeing their takings soar over previous festival weekends. Maitreya Festival attracts up to 10,000 punters to the Buloke Shire for a weekend of electronic music and alternative lifestyle workshops. Credit:Lenny Maddy "Born and bred" Charlton resident Kim Laffin, 50, said locals we shocked to discover on Monday that the festival's permits would not be granted given the widespread support for the event. "Last year most locals went out to have a look and they were just blown away. No one had ever seen a bush doof before, a few elderly people couldn't believe it. No fights, peace and love and all that. "Even if you don't agree with what they're doing out there, they spend their money in town and people were very happy about their generosity of spirit.

"It's 2 million bucks into our economy, our sporting clubs, even the kindergarten got money from it last year," she said. "We spend all our time fundraising to buy new footys for the footy club, we're selling tickets and baking cakes. Now we're not looking for money off our own residents, they're all broke anyway, this is outside money. "There have been droughts, floods. Economically we need it. We can't understand why they can't work together to make this happen." The council said Park Victoria had not given consent for use of land needed for access to the site due to environmental concerns. According to council documents submitted at a February 10 meeting, festival organisers have not provided public liability insurance certificates or a waste management plan and have not applied for public entertainment permits. Although the festival organiser applied for a planning permit in August, traffic, noise and environmental management plans were not received by the council until late December. Mayor Reid Mather said the organisers did not provide the necessary documentation and the decision was made with "great disappointment".

"The council and the community have been let down by a promoter who simply could not get the needed information and reports together to enable his application to be approved," he said. Festival organiser Lachlan Bell​ said he had been working with the council since last April and submitted the permit applications in August, but said they were not forwarded on to relevant agencies until January. On Friday he began VCAT proceedings to force the shire to allow the event to go ahead. Mr Bell said the event was held on the same site last year using the same experts to fulfil permit requirements. "We got other options for other sites to run the festival but it would be unfortunate for the locals. We love this location, this community," he said.

"We are 100 per cent willing to work with (council) to create a great community event that can continue in their shire for a long time." The original version of the story stated that Buloke Shire research had found the festival generated $2.1 million for local business. This figure instead came from the Charlton Forum and was released by festival organisers.