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September 10, 2010
What is the future of regional communities in the context of a global economy. Is regional Australia doomed to be an economic ghetto, as some neo-liberal economists claim? How do we understand regional development under a neo-liberal mode of governance that emerged in the 1980s?
One way to begin to understand this is to turn to the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government 2009 report entitled The Global Financial Crisis and regional Australia. This provides us a way into the issues and to see if there is a comprehensive long term integrated analysis that combines all sorts of factors--- social economic environmental even cultural---within a holistic policy framework.
The Committee's role is to identify and highlight issues facing regional Australia and this report is broken into two sections:
the first addresses the impact of the crisis on regional Australia to date and the government response. The second section examines current and future regional development policy options targeted at assisting Australia’s regions to grow and withstand future economic challenges.The report is broken into two sections; the first addresses the impact of the crisis on regional Australia to date and the government response. The second section examines current and future regional development policy options targeted at assisting Australia’s regions to grow and withstand future economic challenges.
It is in chapter 5 that regional development is taken up. It traces the history of regional development since the 1980s. It says that the policies of the 1980s responded to the disparate effects of trade liberalisation in regional Australia by introducing regional development policies aimed at encouraging community driven solutions, private sector participation and reduced unemployment through business incubators and regional employment initiatives and incentives. Despite persistent unemployment in Australia’s regions remained and the commonwealth's response was to increase funding for regional infrastructure projects and the establishment of community based Regional Development Organisations supported by Area Consultative Committees.
This was an ad hoc approach to regional developmnent, albeit one that was a reflection of regional development theory which stressed rapid regional growth through:
*a relatively large stock of capital;
*a highly educated population; and
*an economic environment that favoured knowledge–intensive industries.
This approach to regional development remained relatively consistent throughout the 1990s until 2001, when the Commonwealth Government released a regional policy statement titled Stronger Regions, A Stronger Australia that was driven by the then John Anderson led Nationals
This report, which was based on Department of Transport and Regional Services Working Paper 55, Government Interventions In Pursuit of Regional Development: Learning From Experiences, outlined the following broad goals for regional Australia:
*strengthen regional economic and social opportunities;
*sustain productive natural resources and environment;
*deliver better regional services; and
* adjust to economic, technological and government–induced change.
One of the strategies for achieving these goals included taking a whole-of- government approach to regional development that promoted ‘coordination between departments and agencies in implementing Commonwealth programmes’. For the remainder of the period prior to 2007, regional development policy promoted partnerships between communities, industry and government under programs such as Regional Partnerships; the whole of government approach was extended to include cooperation between federal, state/territory and local governments as well as intra-departmental cooperation at the federal level; and there was an increasing emphasis on developing local training, eduction and employment initiatives.
From this brief history we can that the theory behind regional development in the context of a global economy is to be found in the Department of Transport and Regional Services Working Paper 55, Government Interventions In Pursuit of Regional Development: Learning From Experiences.
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