Description

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For some years, Melbourne's aborted East-West Link created intense picketing and protests, multiple court challenges, breathless media coverage, and bitter politicking. The Link brought the downfall of the single-term Baillieu-Napthine Liberal government; its cancellation cost the state half a billion dollars; and it lives on in infamy, a byword in the Australian lexicon for political brinkmanship, waste, and politicisation of infrastructure. In The Making and Unmaking of East-West Link, James C Murphy explores the saga from competing vantage points, detailing the layers of politics and intrigue that saturate infrastructure policymaking in Australia.

About the Author

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James C 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.

Praise For…

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"In the political showdown over East–West Link, two visions of Melbourne’s future collided. In this absorbing study, based on previously untapped archival sources and interviews with the leading players, James Murphy brilliantly relates the rise and dramatic fall of the city’s most ambitious highway project. With a forensic eye, he dissects the roles played by political leaders, technocrats and grassroots activists. A story of clashing ideologies, rival ambitions and political brinkmanship, it shows in compelling detail how the politics of infrastructure now shapes the fate of governments and the future of our cities.” —GRAEME DAVISON