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The Making and Unmaking of East-West Link
Melbourne's aborted East-West Link—the massive, multi-billion dollar inner-city toll road project that promised to knit Melbourne closer together—was divisive from the start. Intense picketing and protests, multiple court challenges, breathless media coverage and bitter politicking consumed the Victorian parliament for years. The link brought the downfall of the single-term Ballieu-Napthine Liberal government; its cancellation cost the state half a billion dollars, and it lives on in infamy—a byword for brinkmanship, waste and politicisation of infrastructure.
But where did this notorious megaproject come from, and what explains its fate? Was it a project hand-picked by state premiers who miscalculated its electoral value? Was it foisted on the government by cunning roads bureaucrats, unprepared for the public backlash? Or was it simply that opponents of the project succeeded by turning it into an election issue? James C Murphy explores the saga from competing vantage points, detailing the layers of politics that saturate infrastructure policymaking in Australia.
But where did this notorious megaproject come from, and what explains its fate? Was it a project hand-picked by state premiers who miscalculated its electoral value? Was it foisted on the government by cunning roads bureaucrats, unprepared for the public backlash? Or was it simply that opponents of the project succeeded by turning it into an election issue? James C Murphy explores the saga from competing vantage points, detailing the layers of politics that saturate infrastructure policymaking in Australia.
- GenresPolitics
228 pages, Paperback
First published July 5, 2022
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About the author
James C. Murphy
3 booksJames Cameron Gee Murphy lectures in politics and public policy at the University of Melbourne. His writing on Australian politics and history has appeared in The Canberra Times, The Conversation, and regularly in Inside Story.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 24, 2022
Going in, I had thought this book would be a close analysis of the East West Link project from start to finish, with lots of details and revelations about what happened, lots of commentary from the people involved - from politicians to public servants to activists - and some broader political theory applied in service of this analysis.
It turns out, Murphy's focus is finding out which theories best explain the way infrastructure projects in general are made and unmade, and EWL is just a test case, so the theoretical framework is very much in the foreground and the details of EWL only brought up in service of that analysis. This might seem like a subtle difference or like I'm nitpicking, but it does really change the focus of the book and therefore what the reader will get out of it.
I still enjoyed it and still found it valuable for my thinking about how we might go about making or unmaking future projects, but that mismatch between preconception and reality - and the fact that the book proper only fills two thirds of the printed pages, with the remaining third being notes/references at the end - did leave me wanting more.
It turns out, Murphy's focus is finding out which theories best explain the way infrastructure projects in general are made and unmade, and EWL is just a test case, so the theoretical framework is very much in the foreground and the details of EWL only brought up in service of that analysis. This might seem like a subtle difference or like I'm nitpicking, but it does really change the focus of the book and therefore what the reader will get out of it.
I still enjoyed it and still found it valuable for my thinking about how we might go about making or unmaking future projects, but that mismatch between preconception and reality - and the fact that the book proper only fills two thirds of the printed pages, with the remaining third being notes/references at the end - did leave me wanting more.
August 17, 2022
If youve got an opinion on state infrastructure or enjoy the drama of power and politics, this book is for you. Fantastic case study of a proposed and fail freeway in Victoria, Australia. Links the drama of power and politics with organisational and power theory - proves a great crash course in pathway dependence, policy entrepreneurs, and the theories on the power of interest groups. Absolutely loved it.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews