Agriculture, mining and related rural industries have been central to the development of Australia’s economy. This book details the role that the Australian Government has played in the making of rural and regional Australia, particularly since World War II. The book reviews these policies and evaluates them with regards the commitments undertaken by the Government to contribute towards vibrant, rural communities.
Policy areas addressed include agriculture, water, education, welfare and population, natural resource management, resource extraction, Indigenous and affairs, localism, rural research and regional innovation, Youth Affairs and the devolution of regional governance. Overall two distinct policy strategies can be observed: one wherein the government saw its role as part of the entrepreneurial state and a sector wherein government has increasingly taken itself out of industry development, leaving this role to the market. Having considered these strategies and their impacts, the book concludes that policy over the past 40 years has not in fact contributed to a more vibrant, prosperous rural and regional Australia.
Rural and Regional Futures concludes with several chapters looking to the future. One chapter explores what the role of the state can be within a social market economy while the final chapter gives consideration to the initial steps rural communities will need to take to begin the process of revitalisation. While these materials present as a case study of developments in Australia, the policy shift from the Government as entrepreneur to a focus on markets is an international one and as such, the insights offered by this book will have wide appeal.
Introduction: Rural and Regional Futures: an Introduction (Anthony Hogan and Michelle Young) Part One: Background: Structuring Policy 1. Regional Policy in Australia since World War II (Paul Collits) 2. From State Direction to Community Self-Efficacy (Geoff Cockfield) 3. Australian Agricultural and Rural Policy since World War II (Erin Smith and Bill Pritchard) 4. Natural Resource Management in Australia (Rebeka Tennent and Stewart Lockie) 5. Dams, Pumps, Pipes and Dreams (Kirsten Henderson) Part Two: Policy-specific Issues 6. Population, Policy and Regional Development (Catherine Gross) 7. The Commonwealth’s Policies and Aboriginal People in Regional Australia (Janet Hunt) 8. Education in Rural Australia (Philip Roberts) 9. Commonwealth Employment and Welfare Policies in Post-war Regional Australia (Sharon Wheller) 10. Youth Policy (Sean MacDermott and Susan Taylor) 11. The Impact of Policy Development on Women in Rural and Regional Australia (Margaret Alston) 12. Three Decades of Rural Health (Gordon Gregory) 13. Rural Research and Regional Innovation (Richard Price) Part Three: Emerging Issues in Rural and Regional Policy 14. Assessing Adaptability in Regional Economies (Kim Houghton and Thomas Fell) 15. Localism and the Socio-Economic Viability of Rural and Regional Australia (Anthony Hogan, Jen Cleary, Stewart Lockie, Michelle Young and Katherine Daniell) 16. Development of Mining-affected Regions (Jo Everingham and Daniel Franks) 17. Understanding the Aspirations of People Living in Rural and Regional Australia (Catherine Gross) Part Four: Looking to the Future 18. Country Futures (Anthony Hogan and Michelle Young) 19. Reclaiming livelihoods (Anthony Hogan, Bruce Wilson, Douglas Baker, Lorelle Burton, Laurie Buys, and Michael Cuthill)
Biography
Professor Anthony Hogan is Chair, Regional Governance and Policy, Institute for Governance and Policy Analysis, at the University of Canberra, Australia.
Michelle Young is with the National Centre for Epidemiology and Public Health, The Australian National University, Australia.
