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A Future for REGIONAL AUSTRALIA Escaping Global Misfortune

This book interprets the predicament faced by regional Australians from their own perspective and proposes a means by which they can act together to find a secure future under globalisation. It argues that neoliberalism in combination with its 'real world' effects in economic policy are driving regional Australia further into social, environmental and economic decay. Gray and Lawrence advocate a new kind of regionalism with broad objectives for people to pursue. This takes discussion about rural and regional policies out of the contexts of trade and industry policies and into the realm of the social and political. Ideas developed throughout the book are drawn from rural sociology, community studies, rural geography, political economy and regional studies. The book will be of great interest to all concerned about the future of regional Australia, and will make a lively and relevant text for students studying the social sciences in the countryside or in the major cities.

Ian Gray is an Associate Professor at Charles Sturt University, where he is an Associate Director of its Centre for Rural Social Research. He is the author of Politics in Place (Cambridge University Press, 1992).

Geoffrey Lawrence is the Professor of Sociology and Executive Director of the Institute for Sustainable Development at Central Queensland University. Among his many publications are Environment, Society and Natural Resource Management (2001) and Capitalism and the Countryside: The Rural Crisis in Australia (1987).

Cambridge University Press978-0-521-00227-1 - A Future for Regional Australia: Escaping Global MisfortuneIan Gray and Geoffrey LawrenceFrontmatterMore information

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A Future for REGIONAL AUSTRALIA Escaping Global Misfortune

IAN GRAY AND GEOFFREY LAWRENCE

HCAMBRIDGE ~ UNIVERSITY PRESS






CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS

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Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK

Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York

www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/978052I002271

© Ian Gray and Geoffrey Lawrence 2001

This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.

First published 2001

A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library

National Library of Australia Cataloguing in Publication Data Gray, I. w., 1951-. A future for regional Australia: escaping global misfortune. Bibliography. Includes index. ISBN 0 521 80753 0 ISBN 0 521 00227 3 (pbk.). 1. Regionalism - Australia. 2. Globalization. 3. Australia - Economic conditions. I. Lawrence, G. A. (Geoffrey A.). II. Title.

330·994

ISBN 978-0-521-80753-1 Hardback ISBN 978-0-521-00227-1 Paperback

Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy ofURLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. Information regarding prices, travel timetables, and other factual information given in this work is correct at the time of first printing but Cambridge University Press does not guarantee the accuracy of such information thereafter.






Contents

Acknowledgements Glossary Map: Australia's Population Distribution

1 The Global Misfortune of Regional Australia Global Misfortune The Challenges The Structure and Argument of this Book Further Reading

2 Understanding Globalisation Competing Conceptions of Globalisation Features of Globalisation Causes and Contradictions of Globalisation Consequences of Globalisation for Farming in the Advanced Nations Conclusion Further Reading

3 People versus Policy Old Thinking People Suffering Change The Poverty of Rational Action Theory Social Power Relations New (Reflexive) Thinking Perspectives on Farming and 'The Rural' Rural-Urban Relativities Conclusion Further Reading

4 The Social Transformation of Australian Farming Restructuring Farming in Australia and Overseas Social Restructuring Conclusion Further Reading

v

Vlll

ix x

1 4

12 13 14

16 17 20 25 31 34 35

36 38 41 42 43 45 48 49 50 51

52 53 64 69 70






vi Contents

5 Voices from the Farm 71 Rural Ideology and Culture 72 Ideology and Power 74 Ideology and Restructuring 75 Australian Research Findings 79 Perceived Impacts of Restructuring 80 Perceptions of Causes 84 Conclusion 91 Further Reading 93

6 Regional Decline: Division amid Disadvantage 94 The Changing Spatial Distribution of Regional Population 95 Spatial Variation 97 Some Case Studies 98 Regional Social Conditions 99 Neoliberalism and Regional Economics 103 Policy Impacts 104 Postmoderni ty 109 The Transformation of Regional Policy 112 Conclusion 114 Further Reading 115

7 People Confronting Dependency 116 Economic Individualism 117 Some Regional Histories 119 The Relationship between Metropolitan and Regional Australia 124 Power and Interests 127 Community Resistance 128 The Presentation and Interpretation of Development Issues 131 Conclusion 135 Further Reading 136

8 Beyond Productivism and Environmental Degradation? 137 Colonial Agriculture: Compromising the Australian Landscape 138 The Entrenchment of Productivist Agriculture 141 Environmental Degradation in Australia 143 Genetic Engineering: The Latest in Productivist Agriculture? 146 Greening and the Organic Option 149 The Prospects for Sustainable Agriculture in Australia 151 Conclusion 157 Further Reading 158






9 New Cultures for Old Rural Tradition in the Context of Globalisation The Nature of Tradition Theories of Detraditionalisation Farming Tradition The Detraditionalisation of Farming Newcomers Farm Succession and Inheritance Pluriactivity Farmer Knowledge Values The Trajectory of Change The Detraditionalisation of Rural Community Structural Differentiation Cultural Differentiation The End of Rural Australia? Further Reading

10 The New Millennium: Pathways and Policies Neoliberal Hegemony Neoliberal Inconsistencies Reflexivity and Social Change Developing Alternatives to Productivism and

Neoliberal Countrymindedness Sustainable Regional Development Some Limitations of Sustainable Regional Development The Weakness of a Communitarian Solution Institutional Incapacity Prospects for Regional Autonomy A Regional Solution Regional Social Capital Regional Government Institutional Change Equity and Sustainability Further Reading

Bibliography Index

Contents vii

159 160 162 163 163 164 165 166 168 170 171 172 173 176 177 179 180

181 182 184 185

187 188 193 195 196 199 199 201 202 203 205 208

209 243






Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the many people who have helped us with the preparation of this book and with the research which preceded it. Colleagues and present and former post-graduate students at Charles Sturt University (CSU) and Central Queensland University (CQU) were a critical but constructive audience helping us to formulate many of the ideas developed here. We wish to make special mention of the support provided by Tony Dunn, Emily Phillips, Helen Swan, Judith Crockett, Margie Thomson and Rachael Williams at CSU, and of Lynda Herbert-Cheshire and Stewart Lockie at CQU. Hugh Campbell (University of Otago), Vaughan Higgins (Monash University-Gippsland), Phil McMichael (Cornell University), Toby Miller (New York University), David Rowe (University of Newcastle), Jim McKay (University of Queensland), Mark Shucksmith (University of Aberdeen), Reidar Almas (University of Trondheim), Murray Knuttila and Wendee Kubik (University of Regina) provided very different, but insightful and invaluable, perspectives on culture, the state and globalisation. Jim Cavaye (Queensland Department of Primary Industries) and Allan Dale (Queensland Department of Natural Resources and Mines) helped us to recognise the potential for, but present limits to, the extension of regional policy in Australia. David Burch and Kristen Lyons (Griffith University), Bill Pritchard and Frank Stilwell (University of Sydney), Peter Smailes (University of Adelaide), Roger Epps (University of New England) and other members of the Australian-based Agri-food Research Network and the Institute of Australian Geographers have helped to mould our ideas over the past decade. Members, and associates, of CSU's Centre for Rural Social Research and CQU's Institute for Sustainable Regional Development provided very useful comments on draft material. We also recognise the importance to our research of the financial support received from the Australian Research Council, Land and Water Australia, the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation and the Queensland Department of State Development. We thank these bodies for their continuing faith in the discipline of sociology and in our ability to conduct rural-based studies. (The arguments we develop in our analysis are not necessarily those of these organisations.) Peter Debus and the anonymous readers for Cambridge University Press helped us to reformulate sections of the book. Dania and Kimberley Lawrence assisted in the construction of the reference list and the index. We pay a special tribute to our partners Noelene Milliken and Dimity Lawrence for their encouragement and perseverance. Finally, we thank the many rural and regional Australians who have given their time to be involved in focus groups, in face-to-face interviews, in answering questionnaires, in phone conversations and in a variety of other activities which provided the empirical bases for our writings. This book is dedicated to you.

viii






Glossary

Detraditionalisation - decline in the belief in a pre-given or 'natural' order of things. Individuals are called upon to exercise authority in the face of disorder and contingency, without 'certainty' of knowledge or outcomes.

Economic Rationalism - those economic policies and instruments that follow from neoliberalism: market liberalisation, restrictive monetary policy, reduction in tariff levels, removal of the welfare net, privatisation of government utilities, and outsourcing.

Globalisation - a process through which space and time are compressed by technology, information flows, trade and power relations allowing distant actions to have increased significance at the local (regional) level.

Liberalism - a belief that individual decision-making and action (to fulfil particular needs and desires) provides the most appropriate/beneficial basis for the socio-political and economic organisation of society.

Neoliberalism - not only the above, but also that given the state has previously intervened in social and economic relations and is perceived to have 'corrupted' market signals, the best outcomes for society will be realised when the state retreats from involvement in economic and social matters.

Pluriactivity - diversification of farming work and business into alternative fields including employment and business development off the farm and the diversification of farming into new endeavours like tourism.

Reflexivity - people's ability to reflect upon/act in pursuit of their own and their community's interests. To be reflexive is to monitor actions, assess outcomes and alter behaviour.

Rurality - the distinguishing features of rural life and the condition of possessing them, which make differences apparent between urban and rural situations.

Subsumption - the process through which farmers lose autonomy, often informally and imperceptibly, as they come under the control of large-scale business and industry.

Photography credits Murray Darling Basin Commission (MDBC) (chapters 1,4,8); News Limited (chapters 2, 5, 6,9); MAFF Rural Division (chapter 3); Bendigo Bank (chapter 7); and Tourism New South Wales (chapter 10).

ix






N

i Dampier

Broome

WESTERN AUSTRALIA

eKalgoorlie

People per square kilometre

Over 100

10-100

1-10

Under 1

Australia's population distribution

o I

NORTHERN TERRITORY

Alice Springs e

SOUTH AUSTRALIA

400 I

x

800km I

Gold Coast






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