Understanding Australia’s Antagonistic Politics of Transport

ABSTRACT Having observed a litany of transport projects afflicted by community opposition in recent years, Australian scholars are increasingly recognising the contested nature of transport policy. Many have struggled for a satisfying explanation for these contests – how they work; what determines their outcomes. I argue progress in understanding these conflicts requires that we abandon a key theory in contemporary transport policy scholarship: path dependence. Here I put forward an alternative approach that places contestation right the core of our approach to transport politics. I illustrate its potential to explain policy continuity and reversal by way of two Melbournian case-studies.