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Abstract
It is becoming increasingly clear that neoliberal ideological efforts to depoliticize politics have come to incorporate arguments once associated with radical communitarian, localist and existential critiques of capitalism. This article contributes to cross-disciplinary discussion of how and on what terms this process of assimilation has taken place. It first describes the rise of neocommunitarian politics and policy-making in the privatized electricity system of a “first-mover” neoliberal state, Australia. It then examines in detail a dispute over a proposed upgrade to a piece of electricity system infrastructure in a formerly industrial, working-class and immigrant, now post-industrial, bourgeois-bohemian and gentrified suburb of inner-Melbourne, Victoria. The study reveals a shift over time in the strategy of the protest group convened to resist the proposed upgrade. Originally using NIMBY-like arguments to oppose the upgrade, the group gradually transformed its strategy into a more general critique of privatization and marketization, and of the use of neocommunitarianism by state and market interests to promote economic growth. Generalizing from this case study, we suggest that such a transformation in protest strategy signals the possibility of a new culture of awareness that neocommunitarianism is little more than a response by states and markets to public rejection of free-market reforms. Moreover, the transformation of the protesters' strategy heralds the possibility of a renewal in critical thought and practice, one that is repoliticizing politics by challenging the marketizing and privatizing of public goods.
ORCID
Andy Scerri http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3014-1771
Acknowledgements
The authors thank the three respondents for taking the time to talk. We thank Ronan Paddison, the anonymous reviewers for Space and Polity and Elisabeth Chaves for the many insightful comments and very helpful suggestions that have made this contribution what it is. The research was carried out under RMIT University's Collegiate Human Ethics Advisory Network approval notice A-2000715-06/12.
Notes
2. We note here as an aside that, as has been the case elsewhere in first-mover neoliberal states, such as the UK, much financial investment in privatized industries comes from state-owned enterprises. In the UK, for example, the French state-owned corporations Aveda and Electricité de France own a significant portion of that nation's privatized electricity system (Meek, Citation2014). In Australia, the owners of a significant portion of the Victorian electricity system, SPAusnet, is a subsidiary of Temasek Holdings, wholly owned by the Singaporean Government.
3. Hereafter, we provide technical details in footnotes. Victorian state planning legislation designates the area ‘Residential Zone 1' and insofar as it is adjacent to the Merri Creek Reserve, the requirements of an ‘Environmental Significance Overlay’, a ‘Land Subject to Inundation Overlay’ and, as a piece of infrastructure, a ‘Special Building Overlay’, all within the purview of Moreland City Council.
4. In Victoria, the responsible authority to determine planning applications is usually held by local government. A check on this authority is provided to both permit applicants and third parties via a right of appeal to VCAT (Eccles & Bryant, Citation2011).
5. CitiPower is a private electricity distributor owned by a consortium of Hong Kong based Cheung Kong Infrastructure Holdings Ltd and Power Assets Holdings Ltd and Australian Stock Exchange listed investment fund, Spark Infrastructure. As one of five Victorian ‘Declared Shared Network Providers', the firm manages the distribution network, quality and reliability of power supply in Melbourne (CitiPower & Powercor, Citation2012).
6. In Victoria, AEMO is responsible for planning and procuring electricity network services, manages the National Electricity Market (NEM) in the state, as well as bearing responsibility for national electricity grid planning and security (AEMO, Citation2013).
7. The Minister for Planning holds veto power over both local government and VCAT decisions (Eccles & Bryant, Citation2011).
8. The vacant site was developed from 2009 into an eight-level, 88 apartment building, completed in February 2012. Records show that planning permit application for the apartments was submitted to the City of Melbourne in 2007. A report commissioned by SPAusNet contends that the Bouverie St facility was not feasible in 2010 and not considered in the Regulatory Test that year because the land was earmarked for development by the owner and so not available (City of Melbourne, Citation2012; SPAusNet, Citation2012).
9. Transmission lines and electrical devices in Australia generate an EMF of 50/60 Hz in their vicinity. Research suggests that magnetic fields from high-current installations such as power lines and substations in proximity to residences are associated with increased risks of childhood cancer. In particular, elevated risks for children residing within 100 metres of a power line are reported. The international standard measure of EMF levels is milligauss (mG). As per World Health Organization guidelines, a measure of EMF (Hz) informs a measure of exposure (mG) in the sense that EMF exposure = how many cycles/waves are passing a given point per second (Hz or MHz), where mG measure the strength of the magnetic field, Hz indicate frequency. The two key criteria for assessing the dangers of EMF are, however, proximity to the source and current (amperage, A) of the source. The issue becomes complex and problematic when it is recognized that immediate, that is, temporary exposures, may be high, even from domestic appliances such as vacuum cleaners or hairdryers, while background EMF may be low or high. In the case of high background exposure, the standard set by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) in 1989 and re-evaluated from 2006 is 1000 mG over 24 h (ARPANSA, Citation2006; Dalton, Citation1991; NHMRC, Citation1989).
10. The 1989 guidelines give the recommended exposure limit for members of the public as 1000 mG/24 h. In December 2006, ARPANSA released a draft new standard for EMF exposure taking into account the latest scientific research but did not revise this figure (ARPANSA, Citation2006). As of February 2015, new standard had not been finalized.
11. Councilors voted 4–3 against its planning officers' recommendation to approve SPAusNet's second application. The single vote for the approval of the second application was cast on the basis that, while the Councilor “did not want the upgrade to go ahead, the application had met all guidelines under the planning scheme and should be approved” (Smith, Citation2013).
12. Importantly, the fact that the upgrading of the BTS may impact negatively on the wellbeing of the local community is not at issue here. That the postindustrial gentrification of hitherto industrial areas such as Melbourne's East Brunswick and North Fitzroy has led people to question what was once regarded, by an arguably less articulate and urbane community as ‘unproblematic’ is similarly not at issue.