tag:theconversation.com,2011:/id/topics/roe-8-34736/articlesRoe 8 – The Conversation2017-03-08T19:26:05Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/741552017-03-08T19:26:05Z2017-03-08T19:26:05ZRoe 8: Perth’s environmental flashpoint in the WA election<p>One of the flashpoints in Saturday’s Western Australian election is the <a href="https://project.mainroads.wa.gov.au/perthfreightlink/Pages/default.aspx">Perth Freight Link</a>, a policy to improve the access for trucks to the port of Fremantle. This includes an extension to Perth’s Roe Highway, known as <a href="https://project.mainroads.wa.gov.au/roe8/Pages/default.aspx">Roe 8</a>. The plan has met with <a href="http://www.rethinkthelink.com.au">years of protests</a> by local government, environmentalists and residents who are concerned about the economic, social and environmental issues associated with the development. </p>
<p>In particular, Roe 8 will cut through the Beeliar Wetlands, home to threatened ecological communities and migratory shorebirds. Labor and the Greens have long opposed this plan and have developed an alternative freight strategy. But this was discarded by the incoming Liberal government led by Premier Colin Barnett in 2008, which reverted to an older plan to extend Roe Highway. </p>
<p>Work has begun on clearing the site. However, a <a href="http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/publications/tabledpapers/aedcd371-17fe-4a86-9a18-9cded8300d78/upload_pdf/PFLreport.pdf;fileType=application%2Fpdf#search=%22publications/tabledpapers/aedcd371-17fe-4a86-9a18-9cded8300d78%22">Senate inquiry report</a> released on Tuesday recommended that action be suspended. WA Labor has promised to <a href="https://www.markmcgowan.com.au/freightandtrade">cancel Roe 8 and the Perth Freight Link</a> project, while the Liberal Party is <a href="https://www.waliberal.org.au/latest-news/scrapping-roe-8-will-cost-workers-their-jobs/">holding fast</a> on the issue. </p>
<p>The controversy around Roe 8 has highlighted the lack of effective consideration of biodiversity values, not just at the Beeliar wetlands but across the city.</p>
<h2>Why intact wetlands are important</h2>
<p>In a recent radio interview, <a href="http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/moveon-notices-issued-as-protesters-gather-at-roe-8-site-20161206-gt4y8d.html">Premier Barnett</a> stated that Roe 8 “will not damage the environment of the Beeliar Wetlands other than you will see a major road going between two lakes”.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/159722/original/image-20170307-14973-1prqu3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/159722/original/image-20170307-14973-1prqu3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/159722/original/image-20170307-14973-1prqu3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159722/original/image-20170307-14973-1prqu3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159722/original/image-20170307-14973-1prqu3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159722/original/image-20170307-14973-1prqu3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159722/original/image-20170307-14973-1prqu3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159722/original/image-20170307-14973-1prqu3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The proposed extension of the Roe Highway.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Man Roads WA</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This displays an ignorance of natural systems. Fragmentation is a serious threat to our remaining biodiversity, along with climate change and declining rainfall. </p>
<p>Wetlands aren’t swimming pools with neatly tiled boundaries. <a href="http://au.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-1118568230.html">Wetlands function</a> because open water areas are linked to their fringing vegetation and woodlands. This is how pollutants are filtered before the water passes into the lake, how turtles maintain sustainable populations by nesting in woodlands, and how they exchange genetic material with turtles in other wetlands.</p>
<p>Nor is it difficult to enable these linkages. Examples include refitting drains to become living streams, and creating wildlife corridors along road verges with natural vegetation and trees. </p>
<p>It is essential that we retain our few remaining natural assets intact and enhance the connectivity between them. In assessing the Roe 8 proposal, the WA Environmental Protection Authority concluded that <a href="http://www.epa.wa.gov.au/proposals/roe-highway-extension">habitat fragmentation was a major issue</a> of the development and that there was no easy solution to it.</p>
<p>Wetlands have been lost throughout the state. When the WA Environment Protection Authority released its <a href="http://edit.epa.wa.gov.au/AbouttheEPA/SOE/2007/Pages/default.aspx">State of the Environment Report</a> in 2007 it noted that more than 80% of the original wetlands on the Swan Coastal Plain had been lost to development since 1829. Furthermore, it reported that wetland loss was continuing at an average rate of about four hectares (two football fields) each day.</p>
<p>Why is this happening? There are many reasons, but the principal one is a lack of will by the state government to implement its own policies on wetland conservation. The <a href="https://www.planning.wa.gov.au/publications/5911.aspx">Bush Forever Plan</a> – which aims to protect a comprehensive and representative system of Perth’s amazing biodiversity – is still incomplete nearly 20 years after it was drawn up. The government’s draft <a href="https://www.dpc.wa.gov.au/Consultation/StrategicAssessment/Pages/Draft-Green-Growth-Plan-documents.aspx">Green Growth Plan</a> proposes a massive <a href="https://theconversation.com/squandering-riches-can-perth-realise-the-value-of-its-biodiversity-63933">downsizing of the urban conservation estate</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/159723/original/image-20170307-14934-1aagvj7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/159723/original/image-20170307-14934-1aagvj7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/159723/original/image-20170307-14934-1aagvj7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159723/original/image-20170307-14934-1aagvj7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159723/original/image-20170307-14934-1aagvj7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159723/original/image-20170307-14934-1aagvj7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159723/original/image-20170307-14934-1aagvj7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159723/original/image-20170307-14934-1aagvj7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Perth’s wetlands are one part of the region’s globally significant biodiversity.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jane Chambers</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In 1997, the Coalition government released a <a href="https://www.dpaw.wa.gov.au/images/documents/about/policy/wetlandspolicy_text.pdf">Wetlands Conservation Policy</a> for WA. It proposed many worthwhile measures, including a policy to protect wetlands from encroachment by urban and industrial development. A draft of this policy was released for public comment in 2005, but it has never been completed or implemented.</p>
<p>WA’s current environment minister, Albert Jacob, has revoked the <a href="http://edit.epa.wa.gov.au/Policies_guidelines/envprotecpol/Pages/1090_EnvironmentalProtectionSwanCoastalPlainLakes.aspx">Swan Coastal Plain Lakes environmental protection policy</a>, which provided some protection to important wetlands. Inappropriate development now threatens many significant wetlands across Perth. </p>
<p>The only remaining protection they have is via <a href="https://www.der.wa.gov.au/our-work/legislative-review-regulatory-reforms/84-environmental-protection-clearing-of-native-vegetation-regulations-2004">clearing regulations</a>, which are intended primarily to manage farming operations. Roe 8 was approved despite the fact that it breached the <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-16/perth-wetlands-group-wins-court-challenge-against-roe-8/7033038">EPA guidelines on assessment</a>. The <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-07-15/court-rules-on-roe-8-perth-freight-link-epa-appeal/7631028">state Court of Appeal</a> ruled that the EPA and the government were not obliged to follow these guidelines.</p>
<h2>Global hotspot</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/159724/original/image-20170307-14969-ap0ksc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/159724/original/image-20170307-14969-ap0ksc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/159724/original/image-20170307-14969-ap0ksc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=803&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159724/original/image-20170307-14969-ap0ksc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=803&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159724/original/image-20170307-14969-ap0ksc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=803&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159724/original/image-20170307-14969-ap0ksc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1009&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159724/original/image-20170307-14969-ap0ksc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1009&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159724/original/image-20170307-14969-ap0ksc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1009&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hatchling turtles cross woodlands to reach wetland habitats.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jane Chambers</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>More broadly, Perth sits in a <a href="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v403/n6772/full/403853a0.html">biodiversity hotspot</a>, one of 25 places globally that together contain nearly half of the world’s wildlife and a third of the plants, but cover less than 2% of the land. They are places with exceptional concentrations of species found nowhere else, which are now seeing exceptional habitat losses. The biodiversity of the Perth region is comparable to that of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-south-west-a-hotspot-for-wildlife-and-plants-that-deserves-world-heritage-status-54885">whole of England</a>*.</p>
<p>The threat to Perth’s biodiversity is illustrated by the plight of the Banksia Woodlands, which once covered much of the Perth area. In September 2016, the <a href="http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/publicshowcommunity.pl?id=131&status=Endangered">Banksia Woodlands of the Swan Coastal Plain</a> were listed nationally as an endangered ecological community, particularly due to continuing fragmentation.</p>
<p>With such an internationally recognised threatened treasure on our doorstep you might imagine that environmental protection in Perth would be among the best in the world, but you would be wrong. Instead, valuable ecological communities, fauna and flora are subordinated to short-term commercial and political interests. </p>
<h2>Why should we care?</h2>
<p>For many of us the concept of biodiversity is a pretty abstract one. You can recognise that a rainforest or the Great Barrier Reef is an amazing ecosystem. But how is biodiversity relevant to urban areas?</p>
<p>Access to natural places is <a href="http://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/12/8/9768">essential for human well-being</a>. Contact with nature has been shown to promote faster recovery from surgery, better pain control, fulfilment of emotional needs, lower self-reported stress, positive moods, increased vitality, reduced depression, prosocial behaviour and healthier family units. Psychological benefits are also higher in areas with greater biodiversity.</p>
<p>You inherently know this to be true. Visualise walking down a crowded city footpath, with traffic banked up among tall city buildings. Now visualise walking down a tree-canopied path with birds singing and the sunlight dappled through leaves. Feel your shoulders drop?</p>
<p>Why are areas of high biodiversity more effective? Because, unlike parks, natural ecosystems have diversity that changes constantly – birdsong and flowers that change with the season, a turtle heading off to nest, or the appearance of tadpoles sprouting legs and becoming frogs. This provides a new experience every time we visit.</p>
<p>If that’s not enough, natural areas like wetlands also provide a suite of “<a href="http://archive.ramsar.org/cda/en/ramsar-pubs-info-ecosystem-services/main/ramsar/1-30-103%5E24258_4000_0__">ecosystem services</a>” that benefit the urban environment. </p>
<p>They improve aesthetics and amenity, increase property values, provide recreational opportunities, remove pollutants from air (by trees) and water (by wetlands and streams), reduce noise and wind, protect us from storm events through flood control, provide climate control (tree canopies reduce temperatures), and offer habitat corridors so you can enjoy birds and wildlife in your backyard.</p>
<p>For our cities to grow sustainably we must have <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-05-01/greater-urban-infill-and-high-density-living-planned-for-perth/6437608">increased density of housing</a>, but we must also ensure quality of life by including quality public open space. Natural ecosystems need to be sympathetically integrated into urban development, to benefit people and wildlife. </p>
<p><em>*This sentence was corrected on March 9. It previously stated that Perth’s biodiversity is equivalent to the whole of Great Britain.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/74155/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jane Chambers is a member of the Beeliar Group of Professors for Environmental Responsibility.
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Philip Jennings is affiliated with the Wetlands Conservation Society and the Cockburn Wetlands Education Centre and the Beeliar Group of Professors for Environmental Responsibility. </span></em></p>With WA’s election looming, Perth’s battle over the Roe 8 highway extension brings other environmental issues to the fore.Jane Chambers, Academic Chair for Environmental Science and Environmental Management and Sustainability, Murdoch UniversityPhilip Jennings, Emeritus professor, Energy studies, Murdoch UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/719382017-03-01T02:57:05Z2017-03-01T02:57:05ZWhat would a wise democracy look like? We, the people, would matter<p>All governments would like to overcome impasses caused by contentious issues. Particularly when they turn into a political slanging match, the result is loss of money, time and public trust. </p>
<p>Take the decades-old, contentious dilemma in Western Australia of whether to build the <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-10-11/roe-8-highway-extension-in-western-australia-explained/7923658">Roe 8 highway</a> through the <a href="https://thebeeliargroup.wordpress.com/">Beeliar</a> wetlands to reach Fremantle Harbour, or <a href="https://thewest.com.au/news/wa/greens-back-cockburn-port-ng-b88346805z">build a new harbour</a> in Cockburn, which would involve a different way to transport goods to port.</p>
<p>Communities are at loggerheads. The project affects some positively, some negatively. It’s now a key <a href="http://www.skynews.com.au/news/politics/state/2017/02/18/wa-labor-reaffirms-vow-to-scrap-roe-8.html">issue in the March 11 state election</a>; the incumbent Liberals will construct Roe 8, Labor will not. </p>
<p>Election analyst William Bowe <a href="http://www.afr.com/business/transport/trucking/road-planned-for-50-years-could-cost-west-australian-liberal-premier-colin-barnett-power-20170201-gu2v0o">notes</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>It’s not really clear who it advantages and disadvantages, but it will be a big issue either way.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>The democratic problem</h2>
<p>Communities feel like pawns in someone else’s game. What if governments applied more “power with” rather than “power over” the people? What if the people and communities involved learned to co-own the problem, co-design the solution and co-decide what to do?</p>
<p>Democracies everywhere are in trouble. Citizens are increasingly <a href="https://theconversation.com/now-for-the-big-question-who-do-you-trust-to-run-the-country-58723">losing trust</a> in politicians and democratic institutions. Precisely when far-reaching decisions need to be made (on issues such as climate change and inequality), democracies lack the public legitimacy to act effectively. </p>
<p>The political lurch to the right is one response – “we just need a stronger leader” – but this will lead us further away from a strong democracy. Instead, why not re-think and re-invent democracy?</p>
<h2>Creating a wiser democracy</h2>
<p>If democracy is “<a href="https://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/speeches/gettysburg.htm">government of the people, by the people, for the people</a>”, then a wise democracy would involve the diversity of constituents in collaborative problem-solving, co-deciding and co-enacting ways forward.</p>
<p>This was the <a href="http://www.ancient.eu/Athenian_Democracy/">original democracy in Athens</a> and through Europe in the Middle Ages. Democracy was more than voting for politicians; it was a process for every major, difficult decision.</p>
<p>The appointment of public officials by “lot”, or lottery, was seen to be far superior democratically than by “election”, which was seen to be aristocratic. True, the Athenians limited citizenship to free, adult men, but the range of tasks given to citizens to resolve was remarkably broad. </p>
<p>Confidence was placed in people selected by lottery for at least three reasons. </p>
<ul>
<li><p>First, you got everyday people in the roles of public officials. </p></li>
<li><p>Second, with time and information to resolve an issue, these citizens developed useful solutions.</p></li>
<li><p>And, third, the more you did this, the more people got involved – strengthening democracy.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Nowadays we call this “<a href="http://deldem.weblogs.anu.edu.au/2012/02/15/what-is-deliberative-democracy/">deliberative democracy</a>”. It functions just as effectively today as it did 3,000 years ago (or better, since we no longer limit “citizenship” to adult men). Deliberative democracy stresses that if everyday people think a decision by politicians will affect them, then they should have the right to participate in making that decision.</p>
<p>Participation involves deliberation in an egalitarian and respectful environment. Disparate viewpoints are carefully considered, and a coherent/reasoned way forward is sought.</p>
<p>If all those affected cannot be involved, then a group that mirrors that population needs to be selected – one that is “descriptively representative” of the broader group. The best way to achieve that is via selection by lottery, or random selection.</p>
<p>For public participation in the process to be “meaningful”, governments need to commit to abiding by or being clearly influenced by citizens’ decisions. In short, a deliberative democracy process needs to be representative, deliberative and influential.</p>
<h2>Deliberative democracy works</h2>
<p>Deliberative democracy has been successfully applied across the globe. Examples include:</p>
<ul>
<li><p><a href="http://participedia.net/en/methods/participatory-consensus-conferences">The Danish Board of Technology</a> randomly selects citizens to deliberate technological issues involving ethical concerns to help draft legislation.</p></li>
<li><p><a href="http://participedia.net/en/organizations/world-wide-views-global-warming-overview-and-analysis">World Wide Views</a> randomly selected participants in countries across the globe to deliberate the topic of the forthcoming COP (UN Climate Change Conference), with their combined global report presented to the conference.</p></li>
</ul>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/158008/original/image-20170223-6426-1nc2hq0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/158008/original/image-20170223-6426-1nc2hq0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/158008/original/image-20170223-6426-1nc2hq0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=644&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/158008/original/image-20170223-6426-1nc2hq0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=644&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/158008/original/image-20170223-6426-1nc2hq0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=644&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/158008/original/image-20170223-6426-1nc2hq0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=809&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/158008/original/image-20170223-6426-1nc2hq0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=809&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/158008/original/image-20170223-6426-1nc2hq0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=809&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In Oregon, a representative panel of citizens assesses proposals to be put to a public ballot.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.indivisible.us/oregon-citizens-initiative-review/">healthydemocracy.org</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<ul>
<li><p><a href="http://participedia.net/en/methods/citizens-initiative-review">the Citizens’ Initiative Review</a> in Oregon, US, enables citizens selected by lottery to deliberate to develop the “for” and “against” cases for ballot measures, which are then distributed to voters so they have succinct, useful and trustworthy information.</p></li>
<li><p><a href="http://participedia.net/en/cases/we-citizens-ireland">Constitutional conventions</a> in Ireland and some European countries apply deliberative democracy processes to resolve constitutional issues.</p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://www.participatorybudgeting.org/">Participatory budgeting</a> in around 3,000 places across the globe empowers the people to allocate a portion (around 10%) of the budget. With citizens at the helm, community groups develop projects, local citizens vote on their preferred options, and the top priorities within the allocated budget are implemented.</p></li>
</ul>
<h2>Examples from Australia</h2>
<p>Australia is at the forefront of deliberative democracy reform, though its application has been scattered and not mainstreamed. Examples include:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>In Western Australia in the early 2000s, a Labor minister, Alannah MacTiernan, led <a href="http://www.21stcenturydialogue.com/index.php?package=Initiatives&action=Index&static=">pioneering deliberative democracy processes</a> to resolve tough planning and infrastructure issues. These included <a href="http://participedia.net/en/cases/dialogue-city">Dialogue with the City</a>, Australia’s largest deliberation involving around 1,000 people, with continued public participation to develop a plan for the greater Perth metropolis. This was taken to cabinet, was accepted, and is still relevant today.</p></li>
<li><p><a href="http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/futuretense/citzens-juries-giving-power-to-the-people/5779168">Canada Bay</a>, New South Wales, <a href="http://participedia.net/en/cases/city-greater-geraldton-deliberative-participatory-budget">Greater Geraldton</a>, WA, and <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/comment/experiment-pays-off-melbourne-peoples-panel-produces-robust-policy-20150628-ghzoz4.html">Melbourne</a>, Victoria, have pioneered participatory budgeting in Australia. The process empowers a random selection of the people to recommend the allocation of 100% of a city’s budget – operational and/or infrastructure. In each instance, the elected council supported all or most recommendations. Their constituents accepted often difficult decisions on service cuts and infrastructure changes without the usual uproar.</p></li>
</ul>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/158007/original/image-20170223-6431-1ttz3i3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/158007/original/image-20170223-6431-1ttz3i3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/158007/original/image-20170223-6431-1ttz3i3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/158007/original/image-20170223-6431-1ttz3i3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/158007/original/image-20170223-6431-1ttz3i3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/158007/original/image-20170223-6431-1ttz3i3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=563&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/158007/original/image-20170223-6431-1ttz3i3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=563&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/158007/original/image-20170223-6431-1ttz3i3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=563&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Participatory budgeting is a way for citizens – in this case New Yorkers – to help decide government spending priorities.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/neotint/6267976938">Daniel Latorre/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<ul>
<li><p>Numerous Australia cities have implemented deliberative democracy initiatives, including issues such as <a href="http://www.newdemocracy.com.au/ndf-work/187-city-of-sydney-safe-vibrant-nightlife">urban planning</a>, <a href="http://www.newdemocracy.com.au/ndf-work/184-moorebank-intermodal-citizens-jury">transport</a>, <a href="http://www.newdemocracy.com.au/ndf-work/287-vichealth-victoria-s-citizens-jury-on-obesity-2015">health</a>, and <a href="http://www.newdemocracy.com.au/ndf-work/316-sa-cj-nuclear-fuel-cycle">waste and the environment</a>.</p></li>
<li><p>Research shows that local people trust the voice of recommendations from randomly selected people who deliberate over time, more than they trust the decisions of elected officials.</p></li>
</ul>
<h2>What’s the obstacle to reform?</h2>
<p>So why isn’t deliberative democracy happening more often? Simple. Those in power are wary about sharing their power. </p>
<p>Unlike the Athenians, we don’t believe that every citizen is capable of participating in important decision-making. We assume most people are too self-interested to make decisions for the common good. </p>
<p>However, this is <em>not</em> the case, as deliberative democracy initiatives across the globe have consistently discovered. As the Athenians knew, everyday people can be entrusted to come to wise decisions <em>if</em> they are given comprehensive information and the time to deliberate.</p>
<p>Presumably, the WA election will resolve Roe 8 – for now. However, the cost will be far too high, including the “collateral damage” – environmental, economic, social and political. </p>
<p>What if the issue could have been resolved using “power with” rather than “power over”, with a bipartisan undertaking to abide by the recommendations of a deliberative democracy process? </p>
<p>For instance, 100-plus participants could have been selected by lottery to carefully deliberate over time the diverse viewpoints, the data and the trade-offs, knowing that their participation would be meaningful. By integrating social media and webcasting the deliberations, the process could have enhanced inclusiveness, transparency, public education and social capital. </p>
<p>Instead, we have a lose/lose situation – even the winners will be losers.</p>
<p>Governments for whom democracy equals voting squander their most important asset – public wisdom.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/71938/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Janette Hartz-Karp does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>One reason Perth’s Roe 8 project is the subject of passionate protests is that it’s a case of a government asserting power over people rather than exercising power with local communities.Janette Hartz-Karp, Professor, Sustainability Policy Institute, Curtin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/718102017-02-16T03:42:35Z2017-02-16T03:42:35ZRoe 8 fails the tests of responsible 21st-century infrastructure planning<p>The <a href="https://thebeeliargroup.wordpress.com/">Beeliar Group</a> of professors formed recently to oppose the building of a new highway, called <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-10-11/roe-8-highway-extension-in-western-australia-explained/7923658">Roe 8</a>, through an important wetland and woodland regional park in Perth’s southern suburbs. They have joined a very active <a href="https://theconversation.com/three-ingredients-for-running-a-successful-environmental-campaign-72371">campaign</a>, adding substance to the <a href="http://www.news.com.au/national/breaking-news/roe-8-protests-at-wa-premiers-office/news-story/7d5cc430ac6f45b16472dded96fcc181">passion</a> of community <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/feb/02/its-not-too-late-beeliar-wetlands-activists-fight-on-as-bulldozers-roll-in">activists</a>.</p>
<p>A <a href="https://thebeeliargroup.wordpress.com/">statement</a> by the Beeliar Group explains:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The government’s Roe 8 actions demonstrate the desperate need for scrutiny. They are destructive first steps in a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/feb/02/the-perth-freight-link-is-using-public-funds-to-create-two-private-monopolies">poorly conceived</a> <a href="http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2017-02-03/roe-8-number-of-trucks-on-road-underestimated-study-suggests/8237076?pfmredir=sm">Perth Freight Link</a> that will lock in a Fremantle container port for 50 years, when a new <a href="http://www.fremantleports.com.au/Planning/Pages/Kwinana-Quay.aspx">harbour at Kwinana</a> was clearly needed and already underway. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/western-australia/roe-8-reaction-to-the-supreme-courts-decision-on-perths-major-road-project/news-story/77d4fd4e970b1a12d926451066dd8944">environmental assessment process</a> was over-ridden and the conditions associated with construction are constantly being disregarded. Important Aboriginal sites and health impacts were not taken into consideration.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The Roe 8 project illustrates all that is wrong with how we are planning and managing infrastructure in our cities. The Beeliar Group suggests the lack of <a href="http://www.curtin.edu.au/research/cusp/local/docs/The-Perth-Freight-Link-fact-and-fiction-.pdf">transparency and accountability</a> for the project points to a government that has lost its sense of responsibility. It’s probably also a result of <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-01-29/roe-8-contracts-to-be-signed-despite-no-environmental-approval/7125972">federal government intervention</a> that upset proper processes of planning. </p>
<p>The highly politicised and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/feb/02/corporate-corruption-and-government-failure-to-act-whos-running-this-country">compromised process</a> is similar to other big road projects across Australia such as <a href="https://theconversation.com/east-west-link-shows-miserable-failure-of-planning-process-40232">East West Link</a> in Melbourne and <a href="https://theconversation.com/modelling-for-major-road-projects-is-at-odds-with-driver-behaviour-63603">WestConnex</a> in Sydney. All arose from the Abbott government’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/defying-the-one-hour-rule-for-city-travel-traffic-modelling-drives-policy-madness-53099">interventions</a> in transport infrastructure. </p>
<p>These interventions were highly unusual. The Commonwealth normally assesses and funds but does not suggest specific projects. The desperate activism associated with these three projects suggests we need to avoid such top-down planning. </p>
<h2>What’s the alternative?</h2>
<p>How do we depoliticise infrastructure planning and delivery? What is happening around the world on major infrastructure projects? And what principles and processes can help create infrastructure that satisfies long-term responsibilities?</p>
<p>The problem with freeways is that they create an ever-increasing dependence on cars and trucks. As soon as they are finished, <a href="https://theconversation.com/do-more-roads-really-mean-less-congestion-for-commuters-39508">induced demand</a> leads to <a href="https://theconversation.com/traffic-congestion-is-there-a-miracle-cure-hint-its-not-roads-42753">more congestion</a> and the need for more highway capacity. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.publish.csiro.au/book/7465/">At least 22 cities</a> have now removed freeways. This has happened especially in areas where freeways do most damage – as in the central and inner city, where urban fabrics are built around walking and public transport. Or sometimes freeways are stopped when they have severe impacts on major public open spaces, as Roe 8 does.</p>
<p>Copenhagen <a href="https://islandpress.org/book/cities-for-people">abandoned</a> its American-style freeway plans when it was clear much-loved lakes would be filled in. River frontages in most cities are no longer seen as places to put corridors of bitumen. And hanging over all new infrastructure is the shadow of climate-change responsibilities. </p>
<h2>Restoring principled planning</h2>
<p>How should we proceed in our cities to provide 21st-century mobility? </p>
<p>There are two key principles: the economics of infrastructure should be the basis of assessing value; and partnerships are needed to create value from infrastructure. </p>
<p><strong>Economics</strong></p>
<p>Three core factors create value in a transport infrastructure project: accessibility, amenity and <a href="http://www.economicshelp.org/blog/glossary/agglomeration-economies/">agglomeration</a>. Each creates economic value and can be measured – though the really big value happens when they occur together. </p>
<p>In my experience, new urban rail projects generate the most economic value. Road and rail projects that unlock value in freight delivery are also important. </p>
<p>In contrast to Roe 8, building a new outer <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-08-20/kwinana-council-wants-cockburn-sound-outer-harbour-in-10-years/6712050">harbour at Kwinana</a> and redeveloping Fremantle harbour would solve current issues and look to be <a href="http://www.curtin.edu.au/research/cusp/local/docs/FreightPlanForPerth3.pdf">very good economics</a>. The new harbour would create 11,000 direct jobs and A$13.9 billion (net present value) in gross regional product over 20 years. Redeveloping the old harbour would generate 7,265 direct jobs and $4.4 billion.</p>
<p>A range of other benefits would flow on from these projects. These include not having to clear <a href="http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/western-australia/supreme-court-rules-on-fight-to-stop-roe-8-wetlands-extension/news-story/0b1e91fed352c704bac28489538567f9">environmentally sensitive bushland</a> and removing the negative impact of container trucks from the city and suburbs. </p>
<p><strong>Partnerships</strong></p>
<p>The kind of value creation outlined occurs through partnerships between government agencies, the private sector – which usually owns the land and builds the projects – and local communities. </p>
<p>True economic value is created when they put their money, powers and abilities together into one project pot that delivers accessibility, amenity and agglomeration. This did not happen on Roe 8 – it fails on all three parameters – but potentially can happen on the outer harbour. </p>
<p>In the 21st century we need new processes to build these partnerships. The creation of <a href="http://infrastructureaustralia.gov.au/about/role.aspx">Infrastructure Australia</a>, which cut across government agencies and enabled close partnerships with private sector expertise and finance, was a major step forward. It has been <a href="http://www.infrastructure.gc.ca/index-eng.html">copied</a> <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/infrastructure-uk">around the world</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.infrastructure.nsw.gov.au/about-us.aspx">Infrastructure NSW</a> followed. It has boosted the state’s infrastructure, particularly by creating public-private partnerships. The model’s potential benefits for other states has led to a <a href="https://www.markmcgowan.com.au/files/Infrastructure_Western_Australia.pdf">proposal for Infrastructure WA</a>.</p>
<p>Such bodies are able to tackle major infrastructure assessments and help develop new ways of creating value through partnerships. However, they need to involve local communities if they are truly going to create local amenity as well as accessibility and agglomeration benefits. </p>
<p>As an example, public transport has developed a market in cities due to its speed and spatial efficiency. But this can only be funded if land developers are brought into partnership with transport providers and government planners as well as local communities. Unlocking the value of land and of reduced car dependence depends on creating such partnerships where governments alone cannot do it. </p>
<p>This is the basis of what we call the <a href="https://theconversation.com/paying-for-infrastructure-means-using-land-value-capture-but-does-it-also-mean-more-tax-58731">Entrepreneur Rail Model</a> for creating and delivering new transport value in cities. This model can help considerably in developing the passenger transport side of the Roe 8 plan rather than an old freeway concept. </p>
<p>Freight needs similar partnerships. A suggested alternative to the Roe 8 and Perth Freight Link is a new set of road and rail links around the city to a new port at Kwinana. The local council and community have strongly <a href="http://indianoceangateway.com.au/">embraced this</a>. </p>
<p>Some facilities have even been built already. This includes a large intermodal terminal as the site has the potential to take large container ships that no other Australian port can manage, then link across the nation through rail lines. This is why the project has been called the <a href="http://indianoceangateway.com.au/">Indian Ocean Gateway</a>. </p>
<p>Such a project would <a href="http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/western-australia/port-report-kwinana-outer-harbour-essential-but-dodges-perth-freight-link-issue/news-story/f16b12b1f552bd4f8d22cfd117f9d8d4">create huge economic value</a>. It cannot be developed, though, without forging new partnerships with the private sector to unlock the possibilities for private finance and public good. </p>
<p>Infrastructure solutions for cities in the next 50 years cannot just continue to be rolled out as they were in the past 50 years. It will be especially dangerous if politicians intervene in favour of old solutions that do nothing to create value.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/71810/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Newman is affiliated with the Beeliar Group – Professors for Environmental Responsibility,</span></em></p>Perth’s Roe 8 project illustrates all that is wrong with how we are planning and managing infrastructure in our cities.Peter Newman, Professor of Sustainability, Curtin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/723712017-02-03T06:45:23Z2017-02-03T06:45:23ZThree ingredients for running a successful environmental campaign<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/155345/original/image-20170202-28051-mj9k9n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Protesters against the Roe 8 project make their voices heard outside WA Premier Colin Barnett's office.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Beeliar Wetlands Supporter</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Here in Perth, a battle is raging over a 5km stretch of road known as <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2017/s4603962.htm">Roe 8</a>. Work on the project, part of the proposed Perth Freight Link, began late in 2016 and as legal avenues to halt construction were exhausted, opponents resorted to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/feb/02/its-not-too-late-beeliar-wetlands-activists-fight-on-as-bulldozers-roll-in">non-violent direct action</a>. Some <a href="https://www.facebook.com/tennewsperth/videos/vb.198087696875068/1623548727662284/?type=2&theater">protest “mass actions”</a> have attracted more than 1,000 people from all walks of life and by the end of January, as bulldozers tore through the Coolbellup bushland under <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-01-30/roe-8-protests-policing-costs-high-commissioner-says/8222982">costly police protection</a>, well over 100 had been arrested.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/155337/original/image-20170202-28035-1oz2dj8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/155337/original/image-20170202-28035-1oz2dj8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/155337/original/image-20170202-28035-1oz2dj8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/155337/original/image-20170202-28035-1oz2dj8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/155337/original/image-20170202-28035-1oz2dj8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/155337/original/image-20170202-28035-1oz2dj8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/155337/original/image-20170202-28035-1oz2dj8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/155337/original/image-20170202-28035-1oz2dj8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Clearing machinery arrives on site under heavy police protection, January 2017.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Gnangarra</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Proponents say the road is necessary to <a href="https://www.mainroads.wa.gov.au/Documents/Perth%20Freight%20Link%20Business%20Case%20Summary%20Version%20-%20FINAL.RCN-D14%5E23688714.PPTX">improve the safety and efficiency of freight traffic</a> to and from the Port of Fremantle. Opponents point to freight alternatives that will avoid Roe 8’s <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-09-01/roe-highway-lakes-consultation-criticised-by-traditional-owners/6741616">destruction of Aboriginal heritage</a>, <a href="http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/publicshowcommunity.pl?id=131&status=Endangered">endangered banksia woodland</a>, and <a href="https://parks.dpaw.wa.gov.au/park/beeliar">important wetlands</a>. Critics have also decried the government’s lack of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/aug/11/coalition-ordered-to-release-details-of-16bn-perth-freight-link">transparency</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/feb/02/corporate-corruption-and-government-failure-to-act-whos-running-this-country">prudence</a> in decision-making, and highlighted <a href="http://www.ccwa.org.au/beeliar">serious shortcomings in environmental policies and laws</a>. </p>
<p>The state’s Labor opposition has <a href="https://www.markmcgowan.com.au/news/new-job-creating-and-congestion-busting-projects-the-focus-for-wa-labor-1273">promised to scrap the project</a> if it wins government at the state election on March 11, yet to the shock and dismay of many, bulldozing continues.</p>
<p>How will the conflict end? While history provides no sure guide to the future, it does reveal that successful environmental campaigns have tended to share several key features that unsuccessful campaigns have lacked. What are they?</p>
<p><strong>1. Elections</strong></p>
<p>Some of the biggest environmentalist victories have been won at the ballot box. This was the case for the proposed <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/archives/80days/stories/2012/01/19/3411644.htm">Franklin River dam</a>, which became a federal election issue and helped to bring Bob Hawke’s Labor government to power. </p>
<p>By-elections have also decided the fate of environmentally contentious developments. Wayne Goss’s proposed “Koala tollway” between Brisbane and the Gold Coast cost Labor nine seats in the 1995 state election; a by-election in February 1996 saw the end of both Goss’s majority and the toll road. </p>
<p>Similarly, the campaign against a <a href="http://www.environmentandsociety.org/sites/default/files/key_docs/final_-_defending_the_little_desert_book.pdf">proposal</a> for agricultural development in Victoria’s Little Desert delivered a shock metropolitan by-election result that, along with sustained public pressure, quashed the proposal.</p>
<p>More recently, the East-West Link toll road in Melbourne was, like Roe 8, <a href="https://theconversation.com/east-west-link-shows-miserable-failure-of-planning-process-40232">hurried into the construction phase before an election</a> with no full business case available for public scrutiny. The <a href="http://www.ycat.org.au/">campaign against the Link</a>, which united public transport advocates and local councils, ran for more than a year and attracted <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-01-24/state-government-says-east-west-link-protest-has/5218128">A$1.6 million in policing costs</a>. Labor promised to halt construction and following his electoral success in November 2015, the incoming premier Daniel Andrews <a href="http://www.premier.vic.gov.au/labor-government-secures-339m-agreement-on-east-west/">tore up the contracts</a>, setting what might turn out to be a crucial precedent for WA Labor’s Mark McGowan.</p>
<p>Even electoral failures can help environmental causes in the long run. Advocates for Lake Pedder in Tasmania didn’t attract political support for their cause from either major party, so they formed their own: the <a href="http://www.utas.edu.au/library/companion_to_tasmanian_history/G/Green%20Politics.htm">United Tasmania Group</a>. It narrowly failed to win a seat at the 1972 state election, and Lake Pedder was lost. </p>
<p>But those who were galvanised by this failure were instrumental in the victory 10 years later over the Franklin dam, which transformed federal-state relations and launched the Australian Greens as a political force.</p>
<p><strong>2. Unions</strong></p>
<p>Many past environmental campaigns have succeeded only through union involvement. In the 1970s and ‘80s, almost 50% of the Australian workforce was unionised, giving the unions significant power to shut down contentious projects. </p>
<p>The 1970 campaign against oil drilling on the Great Barrier Reef claimed success when the Transport Workers Union and affiliates placed a black ban on drilling vessels in the region. The 1970s “<a href="https://theconversation.com/speaking-with-nicole-cook-on-union-green-bans-housing-affordability-and-the-sirius-building-71619">Green bans</a>”, led by Jack Mundey and the NSW Builders’ Labourers Federation, blocked a range of threats to heritage sites and bushland, including urban bushland at <a href="http://dictionaryofsydney.org/entry/kellys_bush">Kelly’s Bush</a> on Sydney’s lower North Shore.</p>
<p>With union membership today at only around 15%, and the environment a low priority for some key unions, this opportunity for intervention has all but vanished.</p>
<p><strong>3. Alternatives</strong></p>
<p>Campaigns are more likely to be successful where environmentalists can point to viable alternatives for the projects they oppose. For example, opponents of woodchipping in East Gippsland in the 1980s produced a <a href="http://trove.nla.gov.au/version/22161253">report</a> showing how developing agriculture and tourism in parallel with a restructured and modernised timber industry would produce 450 extra jobs in the region.</p>
<p>This material was then used in political lobbying, as well as campaigning in marginal seats, leading to the declaration of the Errinundra Plateau and Rodger River National Parks in 1987. <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/logging-in-east-gippsland-losing-up-to-55-million-a-year-20150527-ghb0ao.html">Logging continues</a>, however, in adjacent areas.</p>
<p>Similarly, <a href="http://trove.nla.gov.au/version/45397801">Citizens Against Route Twenty</a> achieved success in 1990 with an intense media campaign that included an alternative vision for Brisbane’s urban transport.</p>
<h2>Back to Roe 8</h2>
<p>In sprawling suburban Perth, the track record of opposition to new roads does not inspire much hope for those campaigning against Roe 8. Previous protests against the Kwinana Freeway, the Graham Farmer Freeway and the Farrington Road extension were all more or less futile. </p>
<p>In each case the opponents were deemed to be “anti-progress”, with progress implicitly represented by the construction of new road infrastructure. Similar language pervades the current rhetoric around Roe 8, which is portrayed by supporters as a solution to all the traffic problems of Perth’s southern suburbs. </p>
<p>Sustainable transport advocates take a longer view; for instance, in the <a href="http://www.curtin.edu.au/research/cusp/local/docs/4.1-Perth-Freight-Link-Newman-Hendrigan.pdf">alternative plan laid out by Curtin University’s Peter Newman and Cole Hendrigan</a>. This, however, has been rejected by the Barnett government in favour of the Roe Highway extension, which was originally planned for different purposes in the 1950s.</p>
<p>The protest against Roe 8 has two of the three key historical ingredients for success (an election, and a clearly outlined alternative plan). It has also harnessed the new power of <a href="https://www.facebook.com/rethinkthelink/?ref=page_internal">social media</a> and <a href="https://vimeo.com/202072358">drone footage</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/155315/original/image-20170202-14436-1eo7gyi.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/155315/original/image-20170202-14436-1eo7gyi.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/155315/original/image-20170202-14436-1eo7gyi.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=150&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/155315/original/image-20170202-14436-1eo7gyi.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=150&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/155315/original/image-20170202-14436-1eo7gyi.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=150&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/155315/original/image-20170202-14436-1eo7gyi.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=189&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/155315/original/image-20170202-14436-1eo7gyi.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=189&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/155315/original/image-20170202-14436-1eo7gyi.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=189&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Opponents of Roe 8 at the end of an hour-long silent protest in Forrest Place, central Perth, January 2017.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Rarely has direct action clinched an environmental campaign, although there are precedents: protesters’ destruction of felled timber at Terania Creek in 1979 brought an end to logging. Tree-sitting and human barricades bought enough time for political change to halt the Cape Tribulation-Bloomfield Road in Queensland’s Wet Tropics. In Coolbellup numerous lock-ons and tree-sits have delayed works, but time is running out for the wetlands in the path of Roe 8.</p>
<p>After the March 11 election we will know whether the already bulldozed area will be restored, or whether the road will be built. Whatever the outcome, one thing is certain: pressure is building on resources and urban spaces, and the indicators of environmental health are <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jul/14/biodiversity-below-safe-levels-across-over-half-of-worlds-land-study">continuing to decline</a>. </p>
<p>This trend makes it ever more likely that our economic and political priorities will find themselves on a collision course with communities seeking to protect their local environments. It seems safe to say that we will see plenty more protests like this in coming years.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/72371/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrea Gaynor is affiliated with The Beeliar Group: Professors for Environmental Responsibility. </span></em></p>Campaigners in Perth are fighting the destruction of bushland for a new highway. They have two of three historically important factors on their side.Andrea Gaynor, Associate Professor of History, The University of Western AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/710052017-01-10T19:35:33Z2017-01-10T19:35:33ZCan poetry stop a highway? Wielding words in the battle over Roe 8<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/152074/original/image-20170109-15512-u3hrei.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Protesters holding signs next to North Lake Road at Bibra Lake in Perth last month. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Richard Wainwright/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Can poetry stop a highway?</p>
<p>On the face of it you wouldn’t think so. But this idea is being put to the test in Perth’s southern suburbs in the protest movement that has sprung up suddenly and forcefully against <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-10-11/roe-8-highway-extension-in-western-australia-explained/7923658">“Roe 8”</a>. The West Australian government has long planned to extend the Roe Highway in stages, ultimately reaching the port of Fremantle, and facilitating heavy haulage to and from the harbour. <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-10-11/roe-8-highway-extension-in-western-australia-explained/7923658">The “Roe 8” section is particularly contentious</a> because it traverses through the sensitive Beeliar wetlands and involves substantial clearing of remnant urban bushland.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/152065/original/image-20170109-4302-1iuw7hp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/152065/original/image-20170109-4302-1iuw7hp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/152065/original/image-20170109-4302-1iuw7hp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152065/original/image-20170109-4302-1iuw7hp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152065/original/image-20170109-4302-1iuw7hp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152065/original/image-20170109-4302-1iuw7hp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152065/original/image-20170109-4302-1iuw7hp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152065/original/image-20170109-4302-1iuw7hp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Police cars lined up on the disputed road.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The protest began in the weeks leading up to Christmas. The government announced plans to begin clearing bush after lengthy delays caused by legal difficulties in regard to environmental approval. The delays meant that work was commencing just 13 weeks before a state election that is expected to be a very difficult one for the WA government, with the resources boom well and truly over and the state’s finances in deep trouble.</p>
<p>In the heat and flies of a hot Perth December, protesters began assembling in tents and organising through social media. Police also appeared in anticipation of conflict. It was initially unclear where the clearing would begin in the 5km stretch of bushland, but the protesters noticed machinery beginning to assemble on North Lake Road and this became the “front line” of the action.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/152210/original/image-20170110-16986-1oealmx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/152210/original/image-20170110-16986-1oealmx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/152210/original/image-20170110-16986-1oealmx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152210/original/image-20170110-16986-1oealmx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152210/original/image-20170110-16986-1oealmx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152210/original/image-20170110-16986-1oealmx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152210/original/image-20170110-16986-1oealmx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152210/original/image-20170110-16986-1oealmx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A protester.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>On December 6, about 30 protesters, and as many police, faced off at temporary fencing designed to keep out the public during the planned works. One <a href="https://jpquinton.com/">Perth poet, James Quinton</a>, who arrived to voice his opposition, found himself increasingly drawn into the struggle to save the bushland. His blog has provided a series of updates widely followed by the protesters as the movement began to evolve.</p>
<p>On December 8, Quinton wrote a prose poem, Roe8#1, the first of a series of poems documenting the protest and asking questions that go to the heart of the issues the road has raised. It begins:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>To stand in the way of the Roe 8 highway feels wrong. To take a day off work to hold a banner feels wrong. You’ll be called a bum. They’ll say you’re unemployed, have nothing better to do. The “mainstream” will tell you the “development” is going ahead, the “plans” have been in the “works” for years, that clearing native bushland is necessary for “progress”, that the correct environmental protection measures have been taken, don’t worry friend.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Quinton’s poetry rolls uneasily through the non-sequiturs and surreal juxtapositions that happen as the protesters find themselves in heated confrontation with police and earth-moving contractors.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>In Marginata shade, with the depleted ozone<br>
at Malvolio Road, the sandy verge is compacted<br>
by sandals and sneakers, citizens sing<br>
get up stand up, stand up for your rights<br>
and a mum tells her son off for breaking black boy fronds,<br>
and the patrolling police ask us to stay off the street<br>
and the Federal Member for Fremantle stands with us, getting grey sand in his shoes<br>
with his Ray Bans in his back pocket.<br></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Quinton’s poem, Hope Road (after Garcia Lorca) was written about a young woman, Barbara, who halted clearing works for four hours by locking herself beneath a survey truck.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>In grey sand on Hope Road, is where she laid, she was not asleep,<br>
the earth was no longer flat.<br>
A dragonfly sniffed the truck fumes, she was not asleep.<br>
And a comb eared skink bit through the bedsheets<br>
of the men who do not dream.<br>
Inside the red festoon, trespassing was a kind of parallel.<br>
Here the surveyors’ spirit was broken<br>
and the unbelievable turtle was quiet beneath the tender mud of protest.<br></p>
</blockquote>
<p>It is unusual to have art transpire in the real time of political action, but when it does, it carries a particular charge. The British War Poets who wrote in the trenches and hospitals of the Western Front, or Picasso’s Guernica (1937) depicting the aerial bombing of a Basque village in the Spanish Civil War, carry an aura that comes from both the moral outrage of the event and the terrible beauty of the art that is depicting it.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/152071/original/image-20170109-16943-4o0d49.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/152071/original/image-20170109-16943-4o0d49.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=527&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152071/original/image-20170109-16943-4o0d49.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=527&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152071/original/image-20170109-16943-4o0d49.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=527&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152071/original/image-20170109-16943-4o0d49.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=663&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152071/original/image-20170109-16943-4o0d49.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=663&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152071/original/image-20170109-16943-4o0d49.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=663&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">James Quinton.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Quinton’s poem Hope Road pastiches Federico Garcia Lorca’s famous surrealist poem City that Does not Sleep (Ciudad sin sueño) written in 1930. Garcia Lorca’s poem takes the form of an incantatory warning — “Be careful! Be careful Be careful!” —that repeatedly insists that no one ever sleeps, and someone always watches. It is not a poem of paranoid surveillance, but an urgent plea for the sanctity of witnessing horror:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Let there be a landscape of open eyes<br>
and bitter wounds on fire.<br>
No one is sleeping in this world. No one, no one.<br>
I have said it before.<br></p>
</blockquote>
<p>The conceit in Garcia Lorca’s poem that links the “open eyes” with “bitter wounds” is taken up in Quinton’s poem. Here it is the “wounds” to the land created by the bulldozers, linked to the eyes of the protesters determined to witness an event that the road builders would prefer to have kept hidden. Quinton writes:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>those who stood in front of the bulldozers kept everyone awake<br>
and those who closed their eyes<br>
allowed the landscape of cameras;<br>
and there the bitter wounds began.<br></p>
</blockquote>
<p>As the bulldozers began their work, Quinton was joined on the front line by fellow poets John Kinsella and Tracy Ryan. Kinsella is a long-time advocate of activist poetics. His poems testifying to the ecological cost of WA’s wheatbelt defiantly deconstruct the pastoral mythology of south-western Australia. His poems abandon the historical safety of reminiscence and instead strike their reader with jagged immediacy.</p>
<p>On three separate occasions on 19 December, Kinsella read his Bulldozer Poem, written for the Roe 8 protest, with the bulldozers in action behind him.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Xhf2dRlUbVU?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>The debate surrounding Roe 8 reached a significant turning point on January 4 when the state Labor opposition announced, following legal advice, that it would <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/jan/04/labor-vows-to-scrap-perth-freight-link-if-it-wins-election">tear up the contracts and stop the highway extension</a>. Roe 8 is now a major election issue.</p>
<p>It may seem that poetry is but a small sideshow to a protest that is being fought in the mainstream and social media, the High Court, and the highest echelons of state and federal politics. But poetry draws its power from its ability to thrust language out of the gridlock of everyday discourse. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/152211/original/image-20170110-17027-7wjm3q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/152211/original/image-20170110-17027-7wjm3q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/152211/original/image-20170110-17027-7wjm3q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152211/original/image-20170110-17027-7wjm3q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152211/original/image-20170110-17027-7wjm3q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152211/original/image-20170110-17027-7wjm3q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152211/original/image-20170110-17027-7wjm3q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152211/original/image-20170110-17027-7wjm3q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Protesters hold placards in Perth on Monday after losing a Federal Court bid to stop work on the road.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Gregory Roberts/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Poetry speaks to something else and, even though it is written by real people like Quinton and Kinsella, it also speaks from somewhere else. It is this otherness of poetry that the philosopher Heidegger sought to emphasise when he announced that “poetically man dwells”. </p>
<p>This reminds us that radical protest poetry — whether it be from the Vietnam War, Apartheid South Africa, or from dissident writers behind the Iron Curtain — is not simply a mantra to be chanted at picket lines, but an invocation of the power of language to speak to a higher law, to a judgement that has no official courts, but nevertheless holds each of us accountable.</p>
<p>Australia’s most famous modern poet, Judith Wright, was also one of the founders of the contemporary environmental movement and helped halt the sand-mining of Fraser Island in 1977. Her good friend, Oodgeroo Noonuccal (know then as Kath Walker), was the first Indigenous poet to publish her writing in English. </p>
<p>Her poetry, sometimes bitter, often wry, was initially dismissed by critics as mere “protest poetry”, but poems like No More Boomerang (1966) now stand as stark reminders that perhaps the single most significant achievement of Western civilisation was to create machines capable of annihilating the planet. </p>
<p>Oodgeroo’s poems destabilised a contemporary readership that was not used to finding themselves viewed from the position of the other. This is what poetry can do.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/71005/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tony Hughes-d'Aeth does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Protest poetry has an esteemed history, from the British war poets to writers behind the Iron Curtain. In Perth, poets are protesting against a contentious road extension and their words are charged.Tony Hughes-d'Aeth, Associate Professor, English and Cultural Studies, The University of Western AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.