Rural and Regional Futures
Routledge Advances in Regional Economics, Science and Policy Series

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 regionalAustralia, 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.

I. Background: Structuring Policy 1. Regional Policy in Post-War Australia 2. From State Direction to Community Self-Efficacy 3. Australian Agricultural Policy 4. Natural Resource Management in Australia 5. Dams, Pumps, Pipes and Dreams II. Policy-Specific Issues 6. Perspectives on population policy in Australia 7. The Commonwealth’s Policies and Aboriginal People in Regional Australia 8. Education for Rural Australia 9. Commonwealth Employment and Welfare Policies in Post-War Regional Australia 10. Youth Policy in Australia Since World War II 11. Rural Policy 12. Three Decades of Rural Health 13. Rural Research and Regional Innovation III. 14. Assessing Adaptability in Regional Economies 15. Localism and the Policy Goal of Securing the Socio-Economic Viability of Rural and Regional Australia 16. Development of Mining-Affected Regions 17. Understanding the Aspirations of People Living in Rural and Regional Australia IV. 18. Country futures 19. Reclaiming livelihoods

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.