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AUTHOR Sher, Jonathan; Sher, Katrina Rowe TITLE Beyond the Conventional Wisdom: Rural Development As If Australia's Rural People Really Mattered. Background Paper. PUB DATE Jul 94 NOTE 26p.; In: Issues Affecting Rural Communities. Proceedings of an International Conference Held by the Rural Education Research and Development Centre (Townsville, Queensland, Australia, July 10-15, 1994); see RC 020 376. PUB TYPE Information Analyses (070) Viewpoints (Opinion/Position Papers, Essays, etc.) (120) Speeches/Conference Papers (150)

EDRS PRICE MF01/PCO2 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Agribusiness; Change Strategies; *Cooperative Planning; Economic Development; Entrepreneurship; Foreign Countries; *Government Role; Policy Analysis; *Policy Formation; *Public Policy; Rural Areas; *Rural Development; Rural Economics; Rural Education; *Rural Population IDENTIFIERS *Australia; Empowerment

ABSTRACT This paper proposes a framework for developing a national rural development policy in Australia. Some common relevant misconceptions are that rural Australia and rural Australians are peripheral to the national economy and the nation's future, that farmers and farming communities are the alpha and omega of rural Australia, and that whatever is best for the agricultural industry is also best for rural Australia as a whole. These misconceptions about rurality have resulted in public policies and programs that overlook the needs of the nonfarm population, the majority of Australia's rural population. Three major forms of government intervention--industry support policies and subsidies, government-supplied income for individuals, and social policies and programs--have not been sufficient to ensure a secure and prosperous rural future. The present rural crisis involves the radical decoupling of thP fate of primary industries from the fate of traditional primary producers; the unwillingness of government to seriously support rural Australia's latent economic diversity; and complacency that has allowed the long-standing combination of industrial and social policies/programs to function as a de facto rural development strategy. A new rural development policy should give priority to a growing rural population base, ensure that rural people and communities reap an equitable share of the rewards derived from rural resources, account for a growing and diversifying rural economic base, encourage a growing rural employment base, strive for improved quality of rural life, and develop stronger, more cohesive rural communities. Key alliances within and across rural communities, between rural communities and governments, between the public and private sectors, and across the urban-rural divide will be important in initiating activities involving empowerment, environment, entrepreneurship, and education. Contains 90 references. (LP) BACKGRCUND PAPER

BEYOND THE CONVENTIONAL WISDOM: RURAL DEVELOPMENT AS IF AUSTRALIA'S RURAL PEOPLE REALLY MATTERED

Dr Jonathan Sher and Katrina Rowe Sher United States of America

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2 BACKGROUND PAPER BEYOND THE CONVENTIONALWISDOM: RURAL DEVELOPMENT AS IFAUSTRALIA'S RURAL PEOPLE REALLYMATTERED Dr Jonathan Sher and Katrina Rowe Sher United States of America explanation of how and why we arrived at therecommendations When we were approached by theAuStralia's Commonwealth Department of Primary Industriesand Energy (DPIE) in June, offered here. 1993 and asked to write a report onrural Australia, the officials The story begins (for it is written as a narrative, ratherthan as a :4.re did not have in mind thedocument now in your hands. They technical monograph) with an exploration of the followingthree askeu us to prepare a paper thatwould focus on strategies for pernicious, and yet surprisingly pervasive, Australianmyths: a) advancing "rural development"through education and that the nation's concentration of people and resources into a entrepreneurship. While they encouraged us toestablish the handful of large, coastal, capital cities means that ruralAustralia broader context to sketch the whole puzzle intowhich the and rural Australians are penpheral to the nation; b)that farmers education and entrepreneurship piecescould be placed this was and farming communities are the "alpha and omega"of rural assumed to be a minor part of the assignment. Australia; and, c) that whatever is best for the agriculturalindustry rural Australians Their idea made sense to us. It suited ourbackgrounds and is the same as what is best for rural Australia and seemed like a fairly straightforward task. Katrinabrought years of as a whole. teaching in rural South Australia to this assignment including In the course of explaining why all these commonbeliefs arc her work as the director of a CommonwealthSchools Commission myths, we highlight the many ways in which the entire country special project in the outback communitiesof Hawker, Leigh even with its ostensibly post-industrial societyand economy is Creek, Marree, Nepabunna andParachilna. Complementing deeply dependent upon rural Australia. We alsounderscore the Katrina's perspective were Jonathan's yearsof international tremendous diversity of the nation's rural people, communities developer in both experience as a researcher author and program and economies. rural education and entrepreneurship including his work at and Development (OECD) From this point, we look at the extent to whichinaccurate Organisation for Economic Cooperation or more as the head of suchinitiatives as the Education and Local stereotypes and prejudices about ruralityhave shaped Development Program. To be frank, we reckonedthis would be a precisely, misshaped public policies and programs (no matter reasonably easy assignment (even given theDepartment's what political party happened to be in power).We suggest confusion draconian two month deadline!). explanations for the evolution of the counterproductive of agricultural and rural interests. Nonetheless, suchexplanations Everyone simply assumed the contextualinformation required was are not legitimate excuses for allthe ways in which the needs of readily available. Surely, the Government had acomprehensive Australia's non-farm rural majority routinely have beenignored A rural development policy lying aroundsomewhere (even if only recent OECD report is cited toindicate the growing international gathering dust). Similarly, we all assumed thatAustralia's recognition that new ways of thinking and newforms of policy in seemingly unending "rural crises" must haveprompted some relation to rural people and places are needed urgently. journalists, officials or professors to publish useful overviewsof the role governments people, places and economy of rural Australia.Accordingly, we We then turn our attention toward the profound thought that all we had to do was go to the rightbookshelf; check at all levels have played in thedevelopment of rural Australia out a few such sweeping surveys of the concernsand conditions of even without a coherent and explicitrural development mission. then, get on In other words, we discuss how the absenceof an over-arching rural communities; summarise their findings; and from with the analysis of our own narrower topic. policy for rural Australia has not prevented governments having tremendous effects on rural people and places.Three major These assumptions were wrong We discovered an amazinglack of forms of governmental intervention industry support policies written material about rural Australia and ruralAustralians as a and subsidies, government-supplied incomefor individuals, and whole. There was more detailed information aboutspecific rural social policies and programs are singled out for comment. industries than places, particular rural groups and individual rural regard as we could have absorbed in a decade. However, wecould not find a The story continues with an analysis of what we of the Australia's three real rural crises. The first such crisis isthe radical single source that convincingly captured the realities from the fate of Australia existing beyond the nation's cities and suburbs.Despite decoupling of the fate of the primary industries heaps of data about many rural "trees", and a few well-known traditional primary producers. We show why theday is fast dual "groves", the rural "forest" remained invisible. Moreover,there approaching when Australia will confront the bitterly ironic reality of record profits/export earnings from theprimary sector simply was not a full-blown, credible Australian rural development producers (and of the policy to be found. and record numbers of traditional primary businesses dependent upon them) battling just to survive. Consequently, the original DPIE assignment to which we so happily had agreed suddenly seemed ill-conceived. After all, how The second rural crisis sterns from theunwillingness of could we craft two appropriate pieces for a puzzle if theoverall governments to seriously support ruralAustralia's latent economic it has design and dimensions of the puzzle did not exist? So, too, what diversity. While "diversification" rhetoric abounds, we note could we (or anyone else) sensibly say about education's or not been matched by effective strategiesfor turning these good entrepreneurship's contribution to the realization of Australia's words into equally good realities. rural development policy, if there is no rural development policy in The final real crisis can be found in the complacency onall sides thefirst place ? that allows the long-standing combinationcif industrial and social development Our solution to this dilemma was to request permission to shift the policies/programs to function as a de facto rural balance in the report We now thought it imperative to spend most strategy. From failing to solve theproblems of rural employment, to perpetuating social policieswith notably anti-social of our time producing a solid context, and a useful framework, for approach to rural policy is anationalrural development policyEducation and consequences, this odd patchwork entrepreneurship still would he taken into account However, they wearing thin We argue that itneeds to be supplanted by an rural development would no longer be the main focus. Despite whatever misgivings explicit, comprehensive, community-oriented they may have had, the DPIE officials with whom we were working policy. agreed to this reconceptualization of the task at hand. Our examination of the current de factorural policy convinced us it We think is fatally flawed andunworthy of continued support Essentially, the paper in your hands retraies the path we had to policy giving travel as we did our research and writingIt is simultaneously an Australia should construct a rural development prionty to six goals a) a growingrural population base, b) rural outline of what rural developinent collld and we believe should equitable shale (4 the rewatck -- encompass as Australia enters thc 11st (Tunny,and a brieci people and ( ommunities leaping an W-13 July 1994 10 International Conference on Issues Affecting Rural Communities Townsville derived from rural resources; c) a growing and diversifyingrural It is worth remembering, however, that the discovery of the economic base; d) a growing rural employmentbase; e) an platypus did not invalidate all the accumulated conventional improved quality of rural life; and, 0 stronger, morecohesive rural wisdom about the nature of mammals. Indeed, the existence of the communities. While they sound rather innocuous atfirst, acting platypus eventually led to a more sophisticated and powerful understanding of this zoological classification. Similarly, taking upon these six goals wouldentail fundamental changes in rural into account some oft-neglected realities about Australia's rural policy and programs. people, places and economy will not render useless all prior The story then shifts from what needs to beaccomplished to the knowledge. issue of who will be responsible kr breathinglife into these six goals. A case is made for a major organizing effortboth by and What it might mean is that the ways in which leading Australians view, think about, discuss, research, report on, and act in ielation among rural people themselves.The key alliances that should be direction. created and activated are within rural communities; acrossrural to rural Australia and rural Australians will shift in a new communities; between rural communities and governments; We believe such a new direction if based on a firmer grasp of between the public and private sectors; and, last but notleast, both the realities and the possibilities of Australian rural across the urban-rural divide. The point ismade that formiag and development could be a blessing. sustaining such alliances is not merely a pre-conditionfor rural rural change. It is also one hallmark of genuine and lasting BOTH ENDS, LITTLE MIDDLE development. Everyone knows that mammals don't lay eggs. Except in Australia. of Finally, the story concludes with our responses to the question Similarly, everyone also knows that "sparsely-populated" and the how these five groups of allies should proceed in implementing "urbanized" are mutually exclusive terms Except in Australia. six rural development goals already outlined. Thebasic recommendation Ls to focus action on four main clusters of activity The only continent united as one nation, the largest island on the what we refer to as the four "E"s: empowerment, environment, planet, Australia also holds the distinction of being both one of the entreprentuirship and education. We discuss the meaning and world's most urbanized and most sparsely-populated countries. manifestations of each of these four "E"s . The sparsity of population is reflected in the fact that Australia approximates the physical size of the contiguous Unitcd States and Here, as throughout the paper, we remind readers that therural yet, it has a national population equivalent only tothat of greater development challenges facing Australia cannot be met effortlessly New York City. Stated even more dramatically, Australia doubt that a major renewal or painlessly. However, we have no encompasses twenty times more land than Japan, yetmetropolitan and improvement of rural communities and economies can be Tokyo alone has nearly twice as many people as all of Australia. accomplished successfully. Australia has some very important advantages and assets, from comparatively strong human resources What the demography of Australia illustrates beautifully is that to a stunning array of natural resources,that make the even such common descriptions as"sparsely-populated" recommended rural development goals far more likely to be meaning a relatively low number of people per square kilometer of attained here than virtually anywhere else in the world. land can create significant misperceptions. If Australia's people were evenly distributed across the nation, then thiswould indeed rural Our recurring theme is that the key to unlocking Australia's be a very sparsely-populated country by international standards. potential can Ix: found in the democratic design and effective local implementation of a new national rural development policy. We In reality, Australian population is anything but evenly distributed. advocate a policy that places primary emphasis on the actual well- Rather, it is trzmendously concentrated into a small number of being of rural people and communities, rather than the "paper coastal, capital cities. More than 80% of Australians reside within performance" of a few rural industries. For Australia to be a clever 50 miles of the coast and more than 85% are urbanites (Budge, et nation as well as a lucky one, we stress the need for everyone to al.,1992;Walmsley & Sorensen,1993) . This is an unparalleled move beyond the conventional wisdom and toembrace a vision of degree of urbanization, outside of nations such as Singapore, that rural development in which the well-being of rural people and physically are bereft of rural living space. Of course, Australia's communities really do matter most. settlement pattern has been influenced profoundly by environmental factors rendering most of the nation's interior inhospitable to major population centres. BRINGING THE BIG PICTURE INTO FOCUS Even these general statistics understate the concentration of At the dawn of the 19th century, well-educated Europeans Australia's population, for they leave the impression that urban understood the characteristics of mammals. For instance, they Australia could comprise many medium-sized cities and big towns "knew" that mammals, unlike ducks, neither have bills, nor lay spread across Australia (a pattern found in the U.K., the U.S. and eggs. Imagine the consternation that followed thediscovery (by most other OECD countries). Such is not the case "DownUnder". Europeans) of the platypus in 1797 along Australia's Hawkesbury On the whole Australian continent, there arc only 31 places having River. a population in excess of 25,000 (Budge etal.,I992). Because the existence of such a remarkable creature challenged Further, the capital city of each state and territory holds the lion's deeply-ingrained beliefs, the initial impulse back in London was to share of the people. The percentage of total residents found in the dismiss this discovery as a prank being played by a talented capital cities ranges from highs of tnore than 70% in South taxidermist with an odd sense of humour. This was neither the Australia and Western Australia down to roughly 40% in Tasmania first nor the last time when those in the official seats of power and and Queensland (Walmsley and Sorensen,1993). knowledge chose to cling to familiar ideas, rather than adjust to the implications of new realitiesFinally, of course, the evidence Since the time of European settlement, Australia has been a about the platypus became indisputable. Accordingly, educated predominantly urban nation with a tiny number of large people had to develop a new definition, and a revised population centres, a large number of tiny population pockets, and understanding, of mammals remarkably few places in between. The case of South Australia shows this longstanding, highly-skewed national pattern of Recalling the saga of the platypus is useful in coining to grips with population distrtbution in sharp relief Witness, in Table 1, the he story of rural Australia today Just as cherished assumptions startling gap the "missing middle" fl the size of settlements about mammals died hard at the turn of the 19th century, so, too, among this state's top ten urban arms(Salt,1992): comfortabk conceptions of rural Australia seem fairly intractable as the turn of the 2Ist century approaches Not surprisingly then, TABLE 1 ertain perception-altering observations Ii oui, and about,the Ten Most Populated Urban Areas in South Australia, 1989 Australian hush tend to meet with as skeptical a reception in anberra (from all political parties) as the antipodean platypus Adelaide I ,037,702 20,7 11 ria rived in fondon two centuries ago Wliyalla Mount I ,anibior 22.214 Mount Barker (Adelaide Fringe) 17,268 To picture the countryside and its inhabitants in nostalgic terms is Murray Bndge 15,880 to fail to see them as vital communities, as key contributors to the Port Augusta 15,706 national economy, and as people and places with a significant role Port Pine 15,224 to play in creating Australia's future. Indeed, it sometimes seems as Port Lincoln 12,953 if rural Australians are defended by their urban friends on the same Renmark 7,814 grounds as other "bushland fauna" whose habitat is under threat. Onkapannga (Adelaide Fringe) 7,532 Even if rarely articulated, all Australian governments have been Total Population in these Ten Areas 1,179,084 influenced for decades by this "strong core, weak periphery" Total State Population 1,423,300 mental map of Australia. There is a long string of government initiatives particularly in the realms of social and educational Given the distinctive manner in which Australia's people are policy predicated on a deficit model of Australian rurality. In clustered, there is sonie truth in thc idea that every place beyond other words, the basic idea behind most social and educational the capital cities is considered, and dealt with, as part of the policies aimed at rural Australia is one of overcoming, or "hinterland". In fact, there are people who believe the really compensating for, numerous perceived forms of rural important dividing line is not the one between "urban" and "rural", "disadvantage". The worm in this particular apple can be found by but rather the one separating Sydney and Melbourne from following the underlying logic to its logical conclusion: If rurality is everywhere else in Australia an inherent disadvantage, then the only possible way of becoming The metropolitan concentration of Australia's people has not advantaged is to become urban! dissuaded government officials, academicians and other interested We believe that the mental map undergirding so much of the parties from wrestling with the age-old question of "what is rural?". reporting, policymaking, thinking and planning in relation to rural Like their counterparts in other OECD nations, Australians have Australia and rural Australians is fundamentally flawed. In part, it generated, and acted on the basis of, a wide variety of (conflicting) is flawed by the deeply contradictory notion that rural definitions of "rural". In general, there is a preference for numencal commodities may be important, but that the rural people and definitions based on the population size of particular localities. places producing these commodities are unimportant. Mostly, These range from one rather restrictive Australian Bureau of however, this map is wrong because the assumptions on which it Statistics' definition of "rural" as the, open countryside and is based are at odds with fundamental Australian realities. population clusters of less than 1,000 people, to a rather generous This erroneous mental map this pernicious misperception is recent Commonwealth definition of "rural" as all non-metropolitan both a cause and a consequence of what we refer to as: Myth #I: places having fewer than 100,000 residents. There are, however, Rural Australia and rural Australians are peripheral to the numerous alternative definitions, including those based on national interest, the national economy and the nation's future. population density, economic criteria, socio-cultural factors and degree of "remoteness" from major cities (Garnaut,1993; To understand how extraordinarily central (rather than peripheral) Halfacree,1993; and Nichol,1990). the rural sector is to Australia's economy, society and future prospects, just imagine the consequences of all rural Australians We question the value and reasonableness of any single, all- packing their bags and moving to the capital cities before the end purpose definition of "rural". We believe that the true meaning of of the year. "No worries", you might reply. After all, Australians rurality varies considerably from nation to nation kaid, living in the bush and in places having fewer than 1,000 residents sometimes, even within different parts of the same nanon as comprise less than 15% of the nation's population.' "Sure, it would well as from purpose to purpose. What a French agricultural put a bit of a squeeze on the cities, but she'll be right, mate. Cities official, an Australian labor market analyst, and a Canadian are used to expanding. Australia's big population centres have cultural anthropologist mean by "rural" may be very different. In absorbed lots of new people in recent years. In fact, the population our view, that doesn't imply that somebody must be wrong We has more than doubled since 1950 and everything is okay." further believe that the main thrust of the arguments and suggestions made in this paper hold true no matter which of the Try thinking again. It really doesn't take very long, nor require established Australian definitions of "rural" the reader cares to very much imagination, to figure out that the negative employ (Commonwealth Department of Primary Industries and consequences of a rural exodus would be totally out of proportion ..Energy,1992a; Garnaut,1993). to the sheer number of people migrating to major urban areas. In truth, the effects would be catastrophic and Australian society, as we know it today, would collapse in short order. THE CENTRALITY OF THE PERIPHERY Why? Because the contributions of rural Australia and rural Australia has the vast majority of its population, its corporate Australians to the nation are so much greater and far more headquarters, its government offices, its universities and its essential to the nation's well-being -- than commonly is cultural institutions based within a handful of large metropolitan recognized or taken into account. Most Australians probably know areas. So, it is only natural to assume that Australia's major cities the facts that follow. However, these facts appear to have made are the places around which the nation as a whole revolves. This, remarkal4 little cumulative impact on society's understanding of of course, implies that the people and places found outside these how central the rural "periphery" is to the national standard of major population centres must be of relatively little importance to living, as well as to Australia's hopes of at least maintaining such a the nation as a whole. On the face of it, Australia appears to be the standard in the future quintessential example of a nation having dominant urban "planets" orbited by numerous little rural "moons". It is worth remembering the following about rural Australia. Indeed, this mental map of powerful urban centres (the strong Rural Australia is the source of food self -sufficiency for the entire core) and relatively powerless hinterland communties (the weak nation Australia is not dependent on any other nation for a periphery) has guided albeit often only subconciously the stable and diverse supply of good quality, low cost foods. This portrayal of, and policies toward, the nation's rural people and is not a trivial factor. The downfall of the Soviet empire and the current political/social instability there, as in much of the places. Today, this mental map tends to engender sympathy for the rural Davids pitted against the urban Goliaths of Sydney, world has at least as much to do with the people's hunger Melhourne,et. alia. Accordingly, the depiction of rurality one finds for a variety of good foods at affordable pnces, as it has to do with their hunger for democratic government. Australia is in the in the media is, as often as not, laden with sentimentality. of Sympathy, however, is not thesame as respect. And, having a minority of nations that genuinely are self-sufficient in terms dewey-eyed view of rural life is not thesame as having a clear-eyed food production. In an unstable world, this fundamental understanding of the roles rural people and plaLes actually play in advantage looms increasingly large Australian society. 2 Rural Australut is the wellspring of national self-sufficiency in terms of virtually all other taw materials/natural resources. Australia's international reputation as a resourcc-itch, "lucky" country is w.ell-deserred. While Australia imports small quantities of food overcrowding, an increasing level of anti-social behaviour, and and other 'primary products (e.g , wood), the fact remains that, other evidence of declining livability. if push came to shove, Australia could sustain itself in terms of The last thing they need is for very many of the nation's five its fibre, energy and other natural resource needs strictly from million non-metropolitan residents to vote with their feet domestic sources. All the coal, petroleum, wool, cotton and against deteriorating rural economic opportunities and other key materials allowing Australian's this degree of self- discontinued local services by moving to these cities. Hence, sufficiency and of economic independence come from rural Australia. And, it is rural Australians who make these any significant decline in non-metropolitan Australia's well- being would end up being very bad news for metropolitan resources available to the nation. Australia as well. Australia now has the same choice every other 3. Rural Australia is the cornerstone of Australia's export economy nation faces at some point in its history: to solve rural problems Depending on the definition used, somewhere between one at their source, or wait until they become more complex and seventh and one third of Australia's citizens are rural.' Yet, rural intractable urban problems. Understood in these terms, it is not Australians are directly responsible for 2 out of every 3 dollars a tough choice. Australia earns from international trade (Commonwealth The continued willingness, and ability, of rural Australians to Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade,I992). stay rural would be a boon to urban Australia in that it would Export earnings coming into the Australian economy allow help the capital cities avoid becoming dysfunctionally over- Australian consumers (the great majority of whom are urban) to crowded. At the same time, utban Australia needs viable buy foreign goods from Apple computers, to Honda cars, to options for its residents who are redundant in employment or Twinnings teas without the nation incurring a crippling level economic terms; who are discontent with the realities of urban of foreign debt. Beyond consumer goods, most of what life, or who are anxious to find somewhere better to live, raise Australia imports is the machinery necessary for the nation's their families, work or retire. Surveys of metropolitan overwhelmingly urban-based manufacturing industries to Australians consistently have shown that a majority express a operate (Commonwealth Department of Foreign Affairs and marked preference to reside in non-metropolitan areas. This Trade,1993). desire often has been thwarted by lack of job (and other economic) opportunities in the countryside. In essence, it is rural Australia's exports that underwrite much of urban Australia's imports. Australia's economy no longer Much of this frustrated "demand", of course, might bt nothing "rides on the sheep's back", as was the case not long ago when more than overly-romantic fantasies about life beyond the the sale of wool alone accounted for 50% of the country's capital cities. And yet, the attraction, and importance, of non- export earnings. However, it still is true that the rural metropolitan alternatives for Australia's urban-dwellers cannot contribution to Australia's international trade portfolio far all be dismissed as idle chit-chat. The most recent analysis of exceeds the rural portion of Australia's population. migration within Australia indicates that approximately 60% of the people leaving their home city did, in fact, take up 0. Rural Australia is the foundation of a disproportionately high share residence in non-metropolitan places (Salt,1992). of Australia's economic assets and economically productive activity. A significant amount of urban economic activity such as the For example, of the 195,816 people moving from Melbourne to operations of insurance companies, banks, sharebrokers, and all other places within Australia between 1981-86, two thirds government bureaucracies generates no new wealth (i.e., a (64.8%) went to non-metropolitan areas (Salt,1992). Especially larger economic pie). It merely circulates and redistributes for city people who have retired or who have income sources existing wealth. other than from employment, non-metropolitan places have become popular, permanent destinations (Flood, et al., 1991 New wealth can be created only in three ways. The first is by and Salt, 1992). extracting or cultivating primary products. through mining, agriculture, forestry, and fishing. Obviously, all these Consequently, rural decline properly can be seen as a fundamental wealth-generating activities are rural ones. formidable threat to the interests of metropolitan Australia in at least two distinct ways: (a) as the trigger for a rural-to-urban The second way to create wealth is by adding value to products exodus that would came incalculable harm to Australian urban for example, by transforming a bunch of grapes into a bottle life and, (b) as the force denying a very substantial number of of wine. Many such value-adding activities have a primary city-dwellers the opportunity to fulfill their desire to eventually (rural) product at their core. Thus, a furniture factory may be move to the non-metropolitan places they prefer. based in a capital city, employ urban workers and be counted as an urban industry yet, it remains dependent on rural areas 6 Rural Australia is the pnmary locanon of renewal and recreation for for its basic inputs (e.g., wood, fibre, etc.) ' What often gets mact Australians. Rural Australia serves the nation as a safety forgotten is that rural products are the ones to which further valve in a more transient, but equally important, sense. Rural value can be added. The same is rarely true of the work Australia is the place city-dwellers go to escape the tensions of "products" of urban-based professionals, service workers and urban life and to enjoy the benefits of being "on holiday". A government employees recent report noted that 70% of all Australians choose to spend their vacations somewhere in rural Australia (Commonwealth The third route to wealth creation is by generating foreign Department of Tourism,l993a). When one adds to this figure earnings, beyond those acquired through the export of both the large number of second homes Australians have in the primary and value-added products. Tourism is one major countryside and along the «vast, the yam Australians place on example. For international tourists, most of Australia's main the restorative properties of rural places and rural living attractions are rural, (e.g., the Outback and the Great Barrier hecomes obvious. Reef). As all the above should make clear, rural Australia is absolutely central to the nation's capacity to create new wealth, Compared to what Australians would spenc on foreign travel to and, thereby, to expand Australia's economic pie. 1bus, to see reach and enjoy places of comparable quality, rural Australia is rural Australia as "peripheral" is to be blind to some not only convenient itis a genuine bargain. The recreation fundamental economic realities of Australian life and renewal options rural Australians provide to the nation directly saves domestic travelers most of whom are urban Rural Australia is the safety valve taking pressure off the doe% a great deal of money If also prevents the "leakage" of all these and the preferred place for Australian city-dwellers seeking to dollars to other countries. That is, by remaining in Australia. diange their residence. In earlier times, metropolitan Australia these funds have a beneficial multiplier effect on the domestic was happy to have, and able to successfully integrate, a economy, create jobs, and have a favourable impact on the continuing stream of people Irom the countryside Those days nation's balance of trade are gone. 1he capital cities are grappling with problems of unemployment, pollution, traffic congestion, crime, 7 Rural Australia I. the tomhstonc of Australia\ international identity ckYfo(keting infractructurecvac-., affordable homing choilayy.., and cultural distinctiveness Wlu n incc-a people ekewheie in the

0 world think about Australia, their images (largely positive) are Australia as a place of short-term renewal or long-term residence, of the Outback, the Reef, the unique fauna of Australia, the economic importance of rural Australia in the burgeoning areas traditional Aborigines and for better or worse Crocodile of cultural exports and international tourism, or the determination Dundee. Indeed, the only urban images of Australia are the of rural people to stay where they are (even in the face of architecture of the Sydney Opera House and, perhaps, the adversity), the need to safeguard rural Australia's amenities Sydney Harbor Bridge. The reality that Australia's major icons physical and social is obvious. are rural seems to alternately amuse and annoy Australians. This is not surprising, given the extent to which the nation's Much of national importance depends on the success of efforts to population i-.oncentrated in coastal, capital cities and, thus, protect the environmental assets of rural Australia, as well as to the extent which these international symbols of Australian enhance the institutions, services and economic opportunities identity are distant from the daily reality and actual identity, of needed for rural communities to both survive and thrive. Rural most Australians. Australia and rural Australians are anything but peripheral to the nation's welfare today, and all indicators suggest they will remain To understand the potency of Australia's rural images, try to central to the nation's future. think of Australian movies, books, plays, paintings, or crafts that: a) have captured the popular imagination of the world More Mischief-Making Myths and Misconcept:ons and, 1)) portray contemporary metropolitan Australia. It is not easy to do so. Films are a good example of this phenomenon. From a hard-nosed economic perspective, it makes sense to "Malcolm", "Strictly Ballroom" and "Careful, Hc Might Hear You" protect the rural goose that continues to lay so many of Australia's are wonderful movies, but they are at odds with the world's golden ems. But, if the object of one's protection and assistance is stereotypic images of Australia. That may go a- long way toward improperly understood, the help one provides may end up doing explaining why these excellent films never attained the more harm than good. popularity of such movies as "Crocodile Dundee" (I and II), "The Beyond the myth that rural Australia is the nation's weak Man from Snowy River" (I and II), "Gallipoli", "The Thorn Birds", periphery, there are other, equally damaging misunderstandings in "My Bnlliant Career", "A Town Like Alice". Similarly, when the need of correction. Chief among these is Myth #2: Farmersand Disney studio chose to make its popular Rescuers Down Under fanning communities are the alpha and omega of rural Australia. animated feature film, the setting (predictably) is a fantasy Say "rural Australians" to most people and the first thing that pops version of "back of beyond" Australia. Even the "Mad Max" into their mind will be "farmers". Most government officials also series of films plays far more on the image of an apocalyptic behave as if this common word association this tendency to Outback than it does on anything resembling life in treat "rural" and "farm" synonymously had the weight of reality contemporary urban Australia. behind it. It does not. While virtually all Australian farms are rural, Sydney and Melbourne may be the big actors in the domestic the converse is not true. All rural places are not farms, nor are all Australian scene, but on the workl stage, they make only cameo rural Australians farmers. appearances. In this sense, Australia is reminiscent of Scotland. Farms, farming and farmers are very important to rural Australia There, the Glasgow-Perth- Edinburgh-Dundee corridor is the and figure prominently in rural life. However, they no longer are home of an overwhelming proportion of Scotland's people, the even close to being the beginning and end of Australian rurality. seat of government and finance, and the main domestic Consider the following facts: reference point. Nevertheless, it iS the Highlands and Islands that long have captured the world's imagination and defined First, by any measure, farmers are only a small fraction of Scotland's international image. Australia's rural population. Because of the ambiguity surrounding the definition of both "farmer" and "rural", there is a startling range Beyond such cultural exports as the films mentioned above, and of figures one legitimately can extract from the available data the foreign market for products based on Australia's rural icons (Garnaut,1993; Williams,1992). The most conservative analysis of (from Koala cuddly toys to boomerangs), the other indicator the data suggests that less than 4% of Australia's rural population underscoring the economic and cultural importance of rural should be classified as farmers.' Even the most generous Australia is international tourism. It certainly is true that nearly interpretation of the data indicates that no more than 17% of rural all international visitors spend time and n ,ney in Australia's Australians are farmers.° Thus, somewhere between 83% and 96% capital cities. Indeed, they have little choice in the matter, given of rural Australians are not farmers. International flight schedules. However, the majority of people choosing to come all the way to Australia strictly as tourists Second, farmers no longer produce the top export-earning were not motivated by a desire to see only Sydney, Melbourne, products coming from rural Australia. Contrary to popular belief, and the other capital cities (Commonwealth Department of wool, wheat and meat are no longer Australia's most valuable Tourism, 1993b). Rather, they hot.e to experience something of exports. These historical mainstays of the nation's export economy rural Australia. have been surpassed in recent years by other rural commodities. In 1992, for example, the exported goods generating the most foreign When Australians refl-ct on their status as "flavour of the sales for Australia were coal and gold. Coal exports, in fact, raked- month" (for years now!) among international tourists, they need in twice as many foreign dollars during that year as the leading to remember that it is the places, people and products of rural agricultural commodity (Commonwealth Department of Foreign and Aboriginal Australia that most world travelers have in Affairs and Trade,1993). mind It also is worth rememb.:ring that this is more than an interesting oddity. Rather, itis an economic factor of As a sector of the economy, agriculture still outperforms mining in considerable and growing importance. In 1992, terms of export earnings. However, its traditional dominance is international tourism injected nearly seven and a half billion waning, while both mining and tourism steadily are increasing dollars worth of foreign earnings into the Australian economy their shares of foreign earnings The continued strength and (Commonwealth Department of Tourism.1993b). This growing diversity of rural Aue tralia's contributions to the nation's represented just over 10% of Australia's total foreign earnings balance of trade is, of coursei healthy trend. There Is strength in making tourism one of the main magnets attracting overseas economic diversity dollars (Australian Bureau of Staustics,l993). Tourism also is Third, the vast majority of Australia's rural communities have their projected to be one of the most promising growth sectors for economic foundation in something otner than farming The myth the Australian economy and such rural-based activities as that "rural" and "agricultural" are synonymous effectively has ecotourism are seen as key emerging areas of activity blinded both the public and policyniakers to the extraordinary (Commonwealth Department of Tourism,I993a and diversity of Allsit alia's rural economics and communitie.; Grilfiths, I 903,0 Agricultural communities are diverse in their own right Think rbere is a common thread running through the aforementioned about what it would nwan to live and work tn a tropit al. stipi points about rural Australia Whether ont thinks about the cane growing area of northern Queensland versus an temperate, ot Ut iptere.-as that metropolitan Au.aralianc have m non-metiopolitan t-nglatiddike apple glowing community in raquialita gented wine-p'roducing settlements within South Australia's majority of this state's rural and non-metropolitan citizens, but so Barossa*Valley versus a harsh and dusty Northern Territory cattle what?' station or in the vast, barely-populatedwheat belt of Western The deeper problem is that the myth of "rural" and "farm" as Australia versus the clustered little Victorian market-garden towns synonymous terms also has guided the legislative,policymaking within commuting distance of Melbourne. and program development activities of Australia's leaders across all All of these places are rural indeed, all of them are agricultural political parties and factions. This unfortunate consensus among but they encompass a real breadth of types of communities, the nation's leadets has been crystallized in Myth #3: Whatever is lifestyles and amenities. Policies and programs that, in essence, best for the agricultural industry is the same as what is best for treat them as identical and interchangeable"farming areas" miss rural Australia and rural Australians as a whole. the mark and are likely to fail. The reality that most people agree with this idea doesn't make it Although the diversity among agricultural areas is substantial, it true. The point already has been made that mostrural pales in comparison with the spectrum of settlements that are communities have an economy based on something other than home to the lion's share of rural Australians The economyof farming. This is reflective of the fact that, over the past fifty years, individual rural communities usually is dominated by one or two there has been a profound decoupling of Australia's agricultural industries (and sometimes by just one or two employers). Thus, it economy from its rural economy Thus, for example,the fate of is fair to say that the economic base of aspecific rural place is Australia's wheat farmers is of no more consequence to the likely to be narrow and the employment opportunities shallow residents of a rural retirement community on the coast of Southern (Powell, 1985). Queensland, than it is to the residents of a suburb of Sydney. In aggregate, however, the wealth of rural options is impressive As This helps explain why the "rural crisis" trumpeted by the media Table 2 indicates, one can find communities across rural Australia and by farmers' organizations is not having the cataclysmic impact where the economic base is something other than farms. across rural Australia let alone the nation that one might expect. Were economy and rural economy indistinguishable, then Table 2 one quite reasonably would have expected the nation'sagricultural Examples of the Non-Farm Economic Base of Australian Rural troubles to have had a monumental "domino effect" on the rural being Communities economy. Were huge numbers of farm families actually driven off the land and were most rural businesses collapsing in pulp and paper mill ski resort their wake then a massive rural-to-urban exodus should be well Aboriginal development program military base underway by now. a corporate-owned natural gas field a university This has not happened. On the contrary, rural Australia, as a whole, has gained population in recent years (Salt,1992; Walmsley a fleet of small fishing boats a prison & Sorensen, l993).9 hunting fmit juice factories A look at the key area of employment reveals that the agricultural the beach -shacks" of urban Australians an abattoir economy and the rural economy do overlap, yet remaindistinctly a utility-owned coal mine ecotounsm services different entities. The simple fact is that most rural people like most urban dwellers are employed in fairly universal, service the salanes of long distance commuters a tropical island resort occupations. For instance, there are a lot more rural Australians public welfare payments furniture making who earn their living by repairing automobiles, preparing/serving food and beverages, teaching students, working in stores, or doing a scientific research facility individual opal mines office work, than there are rural Australians who derive their a national park or nature reserve a large smelting plant livelihood from mining opal, catching crustaceans, conducting research on rainforest flora, leading tourists on camel treks across a religious retreat breeding and training race horses the Outback, or serving as one of the Flying Doctors (Lewis,1990; harvesting and replanting forests arts and crafts Powel1,1985).

manne aquaculture establishments a goldfield As is true internationally, there is a greater proportion of rural Australians than of city-dwellers who are self-employed, or who transportation/communication facilities owner-operated shops are owner/operators of small businesses. But, again, mostrural public health and education services retiree wealth/income enterprises are not farm dependent. Farmers are nearly as minor a part of the rural workforce as they The diversity among Australia's rural communities and rural are of the rural population. It is still true that somenon-farm, rural economies is nothing short of staggering. Theseidiosyncratic jobs are largely dependem on the farm economy (e.g., abattoir communities don't always have a lot in common, regarding who workers, farm equipment dealers and agricultural extension resides in them, how they operate as "communities', and what agents)It also is the case that a substantial number of non-farm sorts of external assistance they want and need jobs are partially dependent on the farm economy (c g a roadside They all are rural, hut the common denominators are more elusive restaurant having many farmer-customers). than they might at first appear In many respects, the capital cities Agriculture remains a tremendous generator of jobs. It does so and easier to deal with as a group of Australia are more alike through a powerful employment multiplier effect The raw than are a traditional Aboriginal tribal enclave in Arnhem Land, agricultural commodities leaving Australia's farms cteate the need the frontier opal mining town of Coober Pedy, and a long-range for a whole host of people to work on various aspects of their commuter/bobby farm community in the Adelakle Hills (to take a processing, distribution and sale However, one distinctive feature slice down the nation's centre) of the AtLstralian economy is that most of the jobsthat agriculture What one can state with certainty is that the reality of rural creates "downstream" from the farm are notjobs that go to rat al Australia is far more complex and diverse than the stereotypic Australians (Commonwealth of Australia,1988, Walmsley images of larnung communitiesThis chasm between what rural Sorensen, I Q93) Is, in fact, Australia is, in the popular imagination, arid what It Unfortunately for the Auctralian economy, most agricultlu,d would have only moderate significance were it limited to what die products leave its shores 3.5 hulk, minimally-processed public happens to believe commodities Thus, the greatest share of the processing, I.or instance, what great harm is caused by the New St mh distribution and sales 'ohs attributahle to Australian agricultural agricultural newspaper, rhe Lana, proclaiming itself to be "Tlw goods actually end tip going to wotkers in other nations This Rural Weekly"? Its detailed coverage of farming news and anti- aggravating Liu is what driVespolicymakers and experts acroY, the deeply abor alLurs may not actually speak to (or for) the politica; spy( !rum to push haid for Austialia to g''t mitre involvt d 111liifind) r,14,( C..'1111! dtitl it, own At the moment, no "value-adding" and "niche At least DPIE thought to create such a unit agricultural commodities. Accordingly, other Commonwealth agency has takenthe step of establishing marketing" have become, with more than alittle justification, the even a token ruralaffairs/rural policy/rural programs office." mantras of Australia'sagricultural officials. Third, by default as much as design,the Minister for Primary Moreover, the lion's share ofnon-farm, agriculture-generated jobs Commonwealth-level public workers. From employees Industries and Energy is the de facto within Australia are held by metropolitan policyrnaker and governmental spokespersonfor rural Australia and factory workers producingAustralian in the shipping business The current Minister, like nearly allhis predecessors, apparently food and fibre products, touniversity-based agricultural rural policy (broadly defined) public servants responsible for has not found rural development or economists and capital city-based of much interest or importance." Despitehaving had this portfolio is city folks who havethe biggest employment farm programs, it for a few years now and having foiindthe time, energy and desire stake in the well-being of Australianagriculture. Rural Australians, speeches on agricultural policy and to in terms of both the to deliver numerous meanwhile, are left to "suck hind teat", advocate multiple major policies forthe primary industries the non-farm, agriculture-generated quantity and quality of existing Minister has not brought forward asingle major statement, policy rural jobs or address broadlyfocused on the problems and prospects of Australia. LIVING WITH A DE FACTO RURALPOLICY The most disheartening fact here isthat this Minister is not at all the health of the Despite all of these realities, themyth continues unabated that the atypical in the extent to which he equates the rural economy are agricultural industry with the overallwell-being of rural Australia well-being of the farm economy and Government statements on rural inextricably linked. The perpetuation ofthis myth, in turn, has led and rural Australians. Previous few fondness for this myth (Australian to the situation in whichfarm policy is de jacto rural policy. A policy have displayed a similar underscore how pervasive this Labor Party,1993; Commonwealthof Australia, 1986). And, examples should suffice to Government's main political nonsense is today. although it hardly seems possible, the opposition, the Liberal/National PartyCoalition, routinely First, year after year, hundredsof government, industry, and expresses an even more narrow,agriculture-oriented view of rural academic research reports and statisticalanalyses are churned out society and the rural economy. agricultural economics.° Yet, there is about the farm industry and of both the Government's not even one Australian reportthat, in a serious and systematic Fourth, and finally, even strong critics analyzes out the future prospectsfor and the Coalition's agriculturalpolicies display an unfortunate manner, describes or myth. One clear example can Australia's rural economy. No one evenhas bothered to calculate tendency to reinforce this underlying Thus, the great be found in Geoffrey Lawrence'sprovocative book, Capitalism in i he total ruralcontribution to Australia's GDP. Australia.(Lawrence, 1987) The majority of rural people, ruraljobs, rural economies,- and rural the Countryside: The Rural Crisis in remain invisible breadth of vision protnised by thetitle is not realized in the communities those not reliant upon farming substance of the document. and ignored Department of or Minister for Lawrence has written a very pointedand well-argued critique of Second, there is no comprehensive has remarkably little to say Rural Affairs at the state ornational level. Needless to say, every Australian agriculture. However, he Department of Agriculture, whilethe about the problems and prospectsof the majority of rural citizens, state and territory has a that do not revolve around Commonwealth has the Departmentof Primary Industries and rural communities and rural economies Energy. National attention to, andpolicy for, rural Australia and agriculture. through the Department of the rural Australians is not channeled This fundamental confusion between"rural" and "agriculture" has Prime Minister and Cabinet as isthe case with other such cross- not only in Australia, butalso in the (Commonwealth become so widespread cutting constituencies, such as women other OECD countries that the OECD itself was prompted to Department of the Prime Ministerand Cabinet,I988). In fact, the rural people as any kind of comment: standard practice is not to treat paradigm shift that public constituency at all. Rural economies have undergone a policy so far has been slow to grasp.Failing to understand and advice on rural matters, their When Commonwealth bodies want accept the fact that futureviability for rural areas cannot come long-established habit has been to call onthe National Farmers' diverts attention from more organizations and/or the from the agriculture sector alone Federation, other national agricultural productive, longer term approaches topromoting rural vitality Without a second thought, state counterparts of these groups. through rural development policiesdesigned explicitly for thlt mese industry associations arepresumed to represent the needs purpose. It leads tounrealistic expectations for agriculture and interests of a very broad anddiverse geographically-defined policy reform, which is a barrier toits adoption. To the degree direct connection population only a minority of whom have any that public spending onagricultural policy is intended to to their industry! It is asif governments developed theirfull range of rural areas rather thansectorial consultation solely with an promote the well-being of urban policies and programs in purposes, much of itwill be used ineffectively or create association of metropolitan-baseddurable goods manufacturers. additional distortions in agriculture in avain attempt to address buried in one of broader economic developmentneeds. Only broader, more The Commonwealth's own "rural policy" team is policies with an appropnate the eight units comprising one ofthe seven groups into which the forward looking rural development Enen.,ry is divided. Again, an role for agriculture can assure abetter rural future Department of Pnmary Industries and Cooperation and Develop- industry ministry is presumed to he able torepresent the interests (Organisation for Economic of a geographic constituency largelyunconnected to this industry. ment,I99 I a) The 60 staff members (out of morethan 4,000 permanent, full- assigned to look after the broad interestsof time DPIE employees) 'CAUSE THEY'VE ONLY GOT EYESFOR EWE rural Australta approximate the numberassigned to look aftet DPIE's own internal personnel matters(Commonwealth There appear to be four explanationsfor the stunning consensus in Energy,1992b). whatever is good for theagricultur.d Department of Primary Industries and support of the myth that and industry is one and the same aswhat's good for nual Australia Ironically, more than 90'Xi of the staff slidbudget even of DPIE's rural Australians: Rural Division is allocated to activatestundamentally foctised on farmers and farming (CommonwealthDepartment of Ptimary First, earlier in Australia's history,there was considerably more the mam external than is the case todayConventional Industries and Energy, 1992h) Predictably, truth supporting this belief he mote bodies connected to DPIE's Rural Division arethe Agricultural wisdom doesn't fade quickly, evenwhen it is revealed to Council of Australia and New7.ealand ,md the Australian Soil onvennonal than wise! Conservat ton Council oiganized, polint allypowerful, Second, the agricultural industry is beyond 0,,,t and coherent in us demands to adegree light years ofthe 'diverse, idiosyncratic "silent majority" of rural Australians. Needless to say, all non-agricultural, rural business owners are left Unsure of the common denominators that would allow them to high and dry, too. Although, like their tanning neighbours, they become a meaningful constituency in political terms, lacking find themselves saddled with business debt, coping with adversuy articulate and influential advocates, and bereft of means of not of their own making, and facing the loss of their communicating effectively across the various physical,social, capital/enterprises, their income source, their homes, and their economic, political, and occupational distances that separate them, established way of life, these rural people have no access to the this unorganized mass of non-farm rural Australians is unlikely to benefits of this, or any equivalent, "adjustment' scheme. supplant the agriculturalists dominance anytime soon The point is not to stop helping farmers. Australia has a vital Third. these circumstances combined earlier this century to create national interest in their well-being that far exceeds the sheer a formidable government/mdustry/instituuonalalliance focused number of farmers. Rather, we merely are pointing out the peculiar entirely on agriculture. Australian leadership positions that include blindness and injustice of government policies and programs rural portfolios are occupied (or guided) virtually exclusively by based on the misconception that assisting the nation's rural people whose training, socialization and worldview have been in population can be accomplished solely by aiding Australia's agriculture and related disciplines, whose experience is in farmers. agricultural affairs, and whose rise to the top has been fostered by The non-farm majority of rural people eventually will have had their mentors/colleagues within Australia's agricultural alliance. enough of this sort of discrimination. They cannot be counted on Accordingly, the leaders emerging from this alliance quite naturally to suffer in silence forever. Just as 19th century scientists had to adopt its assumptions, conventional wisdom and traditions jettison their old conception of mammals in the face of the truth This is not evidence of a conspiracy in any malevolent sense. It that the platypus cas not just 3 taxidermist's trick so, too, merely confirms that Australian agriculture, like most other Australia's 21st century leaders will have to cast aside the spheres of human endeavor, is structured to ensure its traditional vision of rural Australia in the face of the truth that all perpetuation. Why do these leaders look out at rural Australiaand those diverse, non-agncuhural, rural people, places and economies see only agriculture? For ihe same reasons giving rise tothe maxim are not just a statistical illusion. that, "when your only tool is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail"! UNANSWERED QUESTIONS Finally, there is one additional factor that encourages the What might replace the traditional vision of rural Australia? What perpetuation of the agriculturalists' dominance. Put simply, will the nation's rural economy, and rural society, look and act like adopting a broader view of the rural economy and rural society in the decades ahead? Whose vision will be given the greatest will dramatically complicate the tasks facing researchers, credence and thus, attract the lion's share of available support? politicians, and public servants The job of maintaining a thnving Who will be responsIble for attempting to bring the positive agricultural sector in Australia already has proven difficult enough, visions of rural Australia to successful fruition? What will they even for very competent and committed state and nationalleaders. require to help rural Australia move from where it is today to Figuring out the more complex rural economy and creating a where it could, and should, be in the future? Who will be the sensible strategy for its development seems like something best put winners and losers in the process of rural change? And, perhaps in the "too hard" basket most importantly, to what extent can Australians actively choose to Why borrow all the trouble inherent to the task of creanng and exercise control over their own destiny in these matters, rather implementing policies and programs that really will be of assistance than merely reacting to and coping with the market influences and across the remarkably wide spectrum of rural people, economies other forces beyond anyone's (or any nation's) direct control? and communities? And, especially, why do so when there is no These are the big picture questions that have been left largely and when demand (in political terms) for making this transition unaddressed, and certainly unresolved, in Australia today. the clearest short-term effect will be to threaten the status and (Lawrence, Gray & Share, 1989) There is not even a consensus power of your friends and colleagues throughout Australia'swell- about such basic issues as whether Australia's national interests are established agricultural alliance? best served by many more (or many fewer, or about the same Seen in these terms, there are strong reasons to perpetuate this proportion of) people living and/or working in rural places." myth and to limit one's view of rural life to the agricultural Australia, like most other OECD countries, does not have an industry. The problem is that before too long the realities of rural explicit rural policy of this sort (Commonwealth Department of Australia and the discrepancies between these realities and the Primary Industries and Energy,l993b) In other words, it does not are going to become agricultural alliance's mythology officially care where the nation's population distributes itself along inescapably apparent the Outback to inner city continuum (National Population Perhaps a specific example will bring this general point into Council,1991) sharper focus. For several years, the Government has been Australian governments have avoided a broad population olvrating a program named the Rural Adjustment Scheme (RAS) distribution policy, in part, out of concern about how to actually which was designed to respond pragmatically to those businesses achieve whatever goals might be set and, in part, because such a hardest hit by Australia's continuing rural crisis. The basic thrust policy would smack of the worst sort of social engineering. has been to help beleaguered rural businesses keep from going However, the absence of an over-arching policy for rural Australia under through the provision of special grants, loans, counseling, has not prevented governtnents front having a profoundeffect on of assistance. This would buy time to weather and other for- the country's rural people and places. temporary adersity beyond their control, and to make the changes that would put these enterprises on more solid financial ground If Indeed, it would not he overstating the case to say that the a bwiness' woes proved more piofound or permanent,then RAS cumulative impact of government attention/inattentionmd would be there to help them cInse their businesses, liquidate their action/inacuon ir relation to rural Australia has shaped the current assets and get re-c-aaHished elsewhereItis the kind of helping reality as much as climate, geography and "the market" h,Ind any mod 1..1.zolocs owner ought to appreciate in times of Governments, at all levels, can choose to be officially neutral about trouble or simply ignore lundamental rural issues What governments cannot do is make themselves irrelevant to ouestions 'nlortunately. the Rural Achustment Scheme is not available to ol rural survival, grov ai and development. most tutal businesse, in the shadow of bankruptcyItis available only to farmers Even the owner-operators of farm-dependent Australian governments even without an explicit rural 41,4flesceS SUL h 3S the local farm supply store, oi the areaabattoir development policy to guide or coordinate their actions have an excluded They niav, in objective tenns, be victimsof exactly sculpted the (uncut shape of rural Australia through the use of the !..M1C ativt fcc rit111011114..Liii. cs as tanners, but they need not three powei h u I tools The fact that these three tools are so familiar, isother appl% lor e from RAS and so taken lor granted, that they hardly are visible doet n't render them any less potent and pervasive in their impact. The from health care workers to young people employed through the governmental tools to which we refer are industry support, Australian Traineeship System from universuy/TAFE staff to government income, and social policy. unemployed people taking advantage of the New Enterprise Incentive Scheme and from government bureaucrats to police Industry Support officers and park rangers, there is a very wide spectrum of people paid from the public purse. One would be hard-pressed to find a As discussed earlier, government policy for an economic sector rural community without public employees of one kind or (the primary industries, particularly agriculture) has become the de another Conversely, there are some rural places (e.g., with a facto policy for a population sector (rural Australia). The direct military base) where public employees outnumber any others price supports Australia provides for primary commodities have diminished markedly in recent years, and are slated to drop even The fourth group comprises all the small business owner/operators more. This is the visible edge of public policy, around which and workers whose livelihoods are dependent upon the three public debate usually revolves. aforementioned groups. It is commonplace to view an agricultural What often gets overlooked are the massive public expenditures supplies dealer as being dependent upon local farmers. Yet, it is rare for anyone to acknowledge how tightly their job or business is made over the years in support of the primary industries. Many of these expenditures fall into the category of infrastructure linked to government spending. Nevertheless, were government development The nation's publicly-financed railroad system was pensions, payrolls and payments to disappear tomorrow, a broad cross-section of "independent" rural businesses and rural jobs not developed so that tourists could take a peek at Outback would disappear along witli them. ccenery, but rather to facilitate the transport of publicly-subsidized primary commodities to the publicly-underwritten port facilities A revealing example can be found in those areas of northern from which they could be exported. The same largely could be said Australia having a large population of Aborigines. There is a of the nation's network of rural highways and bridges. considerable segment of the Australian public (including more than a few politicians) v. ho resent government spending on These extensive public investments were designed to increase the Aborigines.' Few of thes,e people understand how vital such efficiency of the primary industries and to enhance the already- spending is to the overall economy of the nation's top half. Most enormous foreign earnings these industries generated for the public money given to Aborigines flows quickly, and profitably, to nation as a whole. Obviously, however, governmental outlays in non-Aboriginal business owners/employees (Crough,1993, support of the physical infrastructure required by these industries have had wide-ranging side effects on Australia's rural Hudson & Jensen,1991 and Hudson,1991). Thus, these non- Aborigines also legitimately can be counted among the prime development. For instance, they have made it feasible to reside in a beneficiaries of all the dollars ostensibly "wasted" on Australia's rural area, while being employed in an urban labour market. And, indigeneous people. they certainly were a key factor in determining the precise location of most rural and remote centres. Social Policy Beyond direct subsidies to producers, and even beyond the A notable characteristic of Australian society is its widespread, creation and maintenance of the physical infrastructure, Australian genuine support for the ideal of giving all citizens "a fair go". governments have supported primary industries in a host of other Australian social policy has reflected this ethos and has tried to ways. These range from favourable tax legistation/regulations, to the large public allocation for all the research, education and provide a wide range of subsidies and services to all citizens. training programs across Australia serving the primary industries. While the Australian "welfare state" is neither as extensive nor as The public purse also is used to pay for urban-based officials who generous as some of its European counterparts, it is far more inspect farm products coming into Australia, mediate industrial pervasive and fulsome than the American model. Few Australians disputes that could adversely affect the primary sector, and serve have failed to benefit in real and important ways from the nation's as advocates for the primary industries in international forums. massive network of social programs, policies and funds. While not designed as a broad rural development policy, all this This egalitarian impulse also has been codified by the Labor public support of the primary industries has, inevitably, had spill- Government over the past decade as "the social justice strategy" over effects on the rest of the rural population. Few rural areas are (Keating & Howe,1992). This strategy, predictably, has attracted untouched by such aid. intense criticism front both ends of Australia's political spectrum. While giving everyone "a fair go" remains a widely-held ideal, even Government Income the Labor Government's most enthusiastic advocates could not mount a credible case that this strategy has resulted in Australia The number, and diversity, of rural Australians who actually are becoming a truly egalitarian society. dependent on the public sector for the bulk of their income is surprisingly large. Included here, especially in the last three groups Despite this caveat, the fact remains that Amtra han governments below, are some people who pride themselves on their "rugged always have gone a long way toward treating their rural citizens in independence" and who might be inclined to look down their an equitable manner." As noted earlier, the main rural industries noses at those who "(red at the public trough" have received ample public support, while rural Australia!,have been the recipients of their fair share of government-supplied The first group of people who denve most of their income from the public sector are the recipients of government transfer income. The protections and privileges seen as the entitlement of payments. This includes individuals who depend on every Australian citizen have not been denied to those living far afield from the nation's population centres. unemployment benefits, workers' compensation, family/child support payments, ALISTUDY, assistance to the physically or Accordingly, rural Australians have access to a breathtaking array mentally disabled, the Farm Household Scheme, special Aboriginal of governmental programs, services, sources of information, and grantsubsidies, or any other form of public welfare, to make ends assistance. It takes a 221 page user-friendly guide, published and meet. People in this group are widely dispersed across the country. widely distributed free of charge by the Government, merely to In aggregate, however, they represent a significant population catalogue all that is availanle (Commonwealth Department of within rural Australia. Primary Industries and Energy,1093b) The second group includes all retired people getting a major Rural advocates correctly note that even with all these public portion of their total income from government pensions. Retired services and subsidies, rural Australians do not have as good a public servants who draw the relatively generous benefits of deal, as extensive a range of social, educational, cultural and government superannuation schemes play a major part in the economic opportunitiec, or as secure aifety net beneath them growth of rural retirement conumlnities. is the case for their metropolitan cousins (Cullen, Dunn & Lawrence,l990) In international terms, however, Atiqialia his third group is made up of all rural Australians who are on the , taken care of its rural citizenc aswell a2; all lull a sniall handful ol public payroll From military personnel to Aborigines working I other nations undei the Community Development Imployment Projects Scheme' Heakh care is a good example of the seriousness with which THE REAL RURAL CRISES Australian governments have attempted to ensure that all We disagree. The current situation suggests to us that this individuals will have access to reasonable care at a reasonable cost combination of industrial and social justice policies Ls not sufficient even if those individuals happen to live in small, poor, or to ensure a stable, secure and prosperous rural future. Why? remote corners of the countryside Rural people participate fully in Because, in a nutshell, they cannot solve the economic, Medicare, the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, and the Sickness employment/income and community problems facing rural (income) Allowance. Australians now and looming even larger for the years ahead In addition, governments underwrite travel assistance for rural Let's take a brief look at these problem areas. patients, special training and assistance for rural general practitioners, the provision of health care centres across rural Australia. the Royal Flying Doctor Service (including fully-stocked ECONOMIC medical chests provided free to isolated people), pluslong list of Independent business owner/operators in Australia's primary special subsidized services available io rural women, Aborigines, sector farming, fishing, forestry and mining are accustomed and people with specific disai...nies. Is this system perfect? Of to seeing themselves as thc heart and soul of their respective course not. Major problems persist such as the shortage of rural industries. For example, Australian family farmers can be excused doctors. Still, it represents more than a token attempt to assist for believing that the nation's agricultural policies and plans rural Australians in dealing with their health care needs. revolve around them and that, for all intents and purposes, they What Australian governments have done with the aforementioned are "the industry". It once was true tools is to make rural living an increasingly attractive alternative Yes, the overwhe'ming majority of commercial farms in Australia Persistently high levels of metropolitan unemployment, the continue to be family owned and operated.' Nonetheless, it would declining quality of city life, and the absence of affordable urban be more accurate to say that these independent, family farmers housing all have diminished the "pull" side of migration to the like their counterparts in fishing, forestry and mining Were "the capital cities. At the same time, having access to a spectrum of industry". government benefits, while enjoying all the rural amenities, has weakened the "push" side of the rural-to-urban migration What these primary producers often fail to understand is that equation. industrial policy no longer is premised on thrir well-being. Instead, there has been a progressive shift by banks, other private Beyond any doubt, what governments do (or refrain from doing) sources of capital, government and industry leaders toward affect rural Australia and rural Australians in powerful ways. For a backing any entity that can deliver the goods in terms of each telling example of the impact of the public sector on rural industry's overall efficiency, productivity, export earnings and development even in the absence of any official rural policy one value-added output. need look no further than Canberra itself. Pnor to the creation of the Australian Capital Terntory earlier this century, the rural area Just as governments officially are neutral on the issue of how the between Queanbeyan and Cooma was fairly typical New South population is dispersed along the Outback-inner city continuum, Wales bushlandIt wasn't the climate, the landscape, the existing so too, governments now officially are neutral on how the primary transport system, the physical infrastructure of the area, or the industries are dispersed along the owner-operator/transnational "invisible hand of the market" that dictated this was the capital city corporation continuum. Whatgovernmentsand industry leaders care Australia "had to have". Rather, it was a political decision that about aboveallelse is thestcengthofthe industry measured in hard transformed thiarea from sparsely-populated countryside into economic terms not the well-being of the nation's traditionalprimary Australia's sixtlargest population centre in less than half a producers (Hill & Phillips,1991; Lawrence,1987; Lawrence, Share century. Campbe11,1992; Williams,1990) The creation of the Australian Capital Territory had virtually Officially, there is no bias against the traditional producers. nothing to do with an explicit desire to promote rural development Officially, governments, financiers, and industry leaders would be in this part of the country. And yet, this one governmental decision happy to see every current, independent owner/operator adjust profoundly and permanently altered the economy and society of successfully to the new realities of the primary industries. an entire region. The final irony, of course, is that the net effect of Officially, nothing would please them more than to have all the this development was to transform a previously rural area into a traditional Australian family farmers, fishers, foresters and miners metropolitan one! transform themselves into a broad base of highly efficient, innovative, sophisticated, internationally market-oriented, value- As was the case in the creation of the Australian Capital Territory, adding, profitable primary producers. Realistically, however, they rural development in Australia has been the residual consequence are not holding their breath waiting for this transformation to and the inadvertent of policies and actions occur. designed with other purposes in mind But, if only for old time's sake, they are prepared to lend a helping Governments did not finance support for Australia's primary hand. Witness, for example, the new initiatives recently introduced industries, or provide income support to its rural citizens, or by DPIE such as the Primary Industries Marketing Skills Program extend its social policies to the countryside because these and the Rural Industries Business Extension Service.' These are governments had some coherent, comprehensive rural aimed at assisting primary producers who have gotten the development goals in mind. Rather, they took these actions es onomic message that they need to go beyond selling the "old because, on the one hand, they wanted to reap the rewards of reliable" commodities in bulk, unprocessed form, if they are to strong primary industries, and, on the other hand, they felt a survive and thrive in the changing world marketplace. responsibility to give their citizens, irrespective of location, a fair go The political message implicit in these new initiatives is that Will this combination continue to be good enough as Australia Australia's traditional primary producers are being given a fair go heads into the 21st century? Should Australia be content with this to structurally adiust, to learn how to hit the new (moving) dr /into, dual-track rural development strategy ol lirst, and targets awaiting them in the rough and tumble world of lot emost, doing everything possible to strengthen the primary international trade The other implicit message is that, having been industries (especially agriculture) and then, counting on soual given this fair go, loutl owner-operators in the primary industries policy measures to mop up whatever spill-over problems and gaps will I.e only themslves to blame if they cannot secure a stable this industrial policy may leave in its wake? More than a few of and piolitable niche in the new econonuc world order Even so, Austialia's leader, would advocate that this is precisely the Lours. humanitarian aid in the form of such mechanisms as the Ruial to pursue They would argue that this tombination has worked A d j list nient Sc he me and F arm Household Suppoit is made pretty well so fa! .ind that. ''ilit ain't broke, don't fix it" available to cte: hion the Nov, for those (farnicrs) who just don't ..have what it tal to Lc!ii in the new primaty industries game BEST COPY AVAILABLE 4.) in.essence, there has been an abrupt and radical decoupling of the and transnational corporations Gic.th for being the sirens luring fate of Australia's primary industries from the fate of Australia's Australian governments and financiers away front their traditionr, :raditional primary producers. The day is fast approaching when rural partners, and for setting the groundrules for international Australia will confront the ironic twin reality of (a) record trade in ways that severely disadvantage some Australian primary profits/export earnings from the agricultural sector and (b) record producers)." numbers of family farmers and farm-dependent businesses going No matter the extent to which this apportionment of blame is well-. down the gurgler (Kingma,1985; Lippert,1993). placed, the practical question remains: "So, what?". The chances of This decoupling is a principal cause of the real rural crisis in a return to "how things used to be" for Australia's primary Australia today. Primary producers always have had to endure producers appear to be nil. There is a potent consensus among the unfriendly acts of nature, unwelcome increases in their costs, and main political parties and the key private sector leaders in favor of unfortunate downturns in commodity prices. Everyone the aforementioned "new status quo". Moreover, even if Australian understands and accepts these inherent risks. But, through policy miraculously shifted back next year, it is not clear that the countless hard knocks and cyclical crises, Australian producers economic genies already released would obligingly go back into could count on their governments and their financial institutions their bottles. The anger is real and really understandable but to help them persevere. Those days are gone. Neither the public it is not likely to undo the structural changes now in place. sector, nor the private financiers, (nor even their own industry Many primary producers have, thus far, been either unable or leaders) have the interests of these local producers at heart unwilling to read this economic handwriting on the wall. For anymore. some, this is a function of the fact that they have not yet been For generations, Australia's traditional primary producers have adversely affected by the new regime. Although it doesn't get much been supported through thick anJ thin and have basked in the media play, many primary producers still make a good living from warm glow of privileged treatment. Suddenly, they have to cope their particular kind of farming, fishing, forestry or mining. Thus, with the unprecedented economic hardship, and the psychological it is very misleading to claim that all Australian primary producers pain, that accompanies the realization they have been left out in have been shafted, or that they all are in dire financial straits. the cold. Mouse plagues, droughts, price collapses, Mabo-related Real life, as usual, offers a more complex story. Whether and, if scares, and unfair foreign competition are only insults compared so, for how long these successful primary producers will with the underlying injury of this decoupling.'" continue to do fine in the new world economic order remains This profound shift has not occurred because policymakers, unclear. bankers, investors, and industry leaders suddenly started to take However, the tough times already have arrived with a vengeance great pleasure in making traditional primary producers squirm. particularly for many farmers in the inland sheep/wheat belt. Some Rather, it happened because these people made five basic have adopted a variety of coping strategies primarily by cutting and because they had the combined power to turn judgments back expenditures and/or seeking supplementary employment these following five judgments into the new status quo: (Gray, Lawrence & Dunn,1993). Others are scrambling to figure That changes in the international market for primary goods are out a new niche for themselves in their changing industries. structural rather than cyclical and thus, to simply conduct Most traditional producers are getting poorer and some, in business as usual and wait patiently for better times is to live in Australian terms, have become impoverished (Australian Catholic a fool's paradise. Bishops' Conference,1992; Davidson & Lees,1993). And yet, given That the future will belong to those who are clever, flexible, the harsh realities of their current status and future prospects, well-resourced, strategically-placed, vertically-integrated, surprisingly few actually have left the ranks of active primary aggressive and market-oriented enough to deliver top quality, producers." competitively-priced, value-added primary products to What will happen from here is a matter of speculation. The most increasingly demanding and disloyal customers around the likely scenario is one in which most categories of mainstream world. primary production will become much larger scale and even more That while some of Australia's traditional primary producers are capital-intensive, technology-driven, corporately-controlled, and capable of competing successfully in this new world economic internationally-connected(Crean,1992;Kingma,1985; order, most are unlikely to make the necessary adjustments. Lawrence,1987; Newton,1993;Walmsley &Sorensen,1993). That the combination of scientific advances (e.g., in the area of Fishing and forestry are likely to become more like production biotechnology) and corporate investors especially foreign agriculture,withlarge-scale cultivators(rather than ones interested in Australia's primary sector make it feasible "hunter/gatherers") becoming the key primary producers within to derive more profits and export earnings from fewer and these industries. What real chance do Bruce and Sheila with their larger foreign-connected primary production units.'" little trawler have against a major network of Japanese-financed fish farms? Similarly, what hope does the Armstrong family with That, therefore, it would be irrationally sentimental, and their woodlots and chainsaws have of succeeding in the counter-productive to Australia's public and private sector international marketplace when their "local" competition is a huge interests to allocate already scarce resources or to waste tree farm that is a subsidiary of the American XYZ Corporation? precious time on maintaining traditional primary producers These "Aussie battlers" may be the sentimental favourites, but whose decline and/or disappearance is all but inevitable everybody knows where the "smart money", and the governmental Thus, Australia is moving into art era when it is more than support, actually will be vested. hypothetically possible for these rural industries to flourish Meanwhile, agriculture itself probably will become more like without the traditional farmers, fishers, foresters and miners let mining. A relatively small number of huge, internationally- alone the majority of other rural people reaping a major share financed producers will be responsible for the majority of of the rewards. As a consequence, the responsibility for looking production. New technologies bio and/or mechanical will after many traditional producers will shift away from industry- displace a significant number of the people now employed in related bureaucracies and toward social welfare agencies' agriculture .(Buttel, 1991) As is currently the case in mining (a .1here is plenty of anger and a fierce sense of betrayal among those multi-billion dollar industry with a remarkably tiny workforce), hardest hit by the current situation (c g., farmers in the inland the dollaryalue of output produced per person in agriculture may sheep/wheat belt.) They blame their governments both for making become astronomical. them the only unprotectedones in the rough waters of commodity After all, this is what happens when the level of production and exporting, and lor abandoning them when the unfair trade earnings increases, while the number of human beings required to practices of other nations began to drown them; their bankers both reach this level decreases. The wisdom of continually displacing for seducing them to borrow heavily and for then choosing to force labor is open to question, especially in an economy offering few a dcbt click instead of sticking with them; and foreign investors 3w eniployment opitortunities However, for 'a variety of reasons, it probably will not be the case government assistance (or, at best, to be the public servants that these changes will mean the elimination of all family farmers.:' handing out these benefits). Questions of self-esteem aside, all It is more likely that an elaborate system of contract farming will these government services and payments combined are no more evolve in which a corporation sunplies all the inputs for, and buys than a safety net keeping people from falling into the depths of all the outputs from, an individual farmer (who will continue to poverty. work, and often still own, the land). Social policies, programs and subsidies enable people to make Mining probably will be the least affected of all primary industries meagre ends meet. They do not allow people to enjoythe standard by the new world economic order This is because mining is the of living to which most Australians would prefer to remain niral industry that already has made the most profound transitions accustomed. Achieving, or maintaining, that requires people to be in line with the dictates of Australia's emerging strategyfor the earning a decent income on a fairly regular, long-term basis. primary sector. Thus, more of the same appears to be the most Social policy cannot deliver this essential piece of the pie -- a fairly likely path for the mining industry to follow. good and stable job to every rural Australian seeking one. It One final point Industries dependent on foreign investors and cannot do so because there are not enough of these jobsinside transnational corporations are obligated to export their profits, as Australia's pie. This is one of its fatal flaws as a rural development well as their products. The leakage of these profits from the rural strategy. The other flaw is that there ts not enough money in the areas responsible for their creation removes a vitalsumulus for the public purse to indefinitely sustain current social programs and local economy. Such industries increasingly will decouple from the subsidies, let alone to expand what rural Australians now receive. local economy in other ways, too -- for example, by huying their The struggle in the countryside today is for rural communities to inputs elsewhere and by adding value to their productswherever hold on to what they have in the face of intensifying pressures to in the world they can get the best deal. retrench and rationalize (in other words, cut) the governmental The aforementioned contract relationship between primary services and benefits upon which rural Australians have come to producers and major corporations may well become widespread, depend. Many state and national social policies have served rural not just in farming, hut in some areas of fishing,forestry and Australia well within the limits of their remit. However, it is mining, as well. Being under contract to a major corporation does unrealistic to expect them to constitute a rural development offer a substantial amount of income stability and security. This initiative, when rural maintenance alone is proving to be an will comfort some producers, especially to the extent it strikes increasingly difficult task (Collingridge,1991). them as being the private sector equivalent of the role Australian So, what we have here is a rural industries policy that isn't even governments used to play. However, such contractsinevitably intended to guarantee a better future for traditional rural producers entail a loss of independence. In fact, while absorbing many of the and that does virtually nothing to promote the interests of the old risks, such contractees have more in common with an majority of rural Australians whose livelihoods aren't dependent industrial "piece worker" than with primary sector entrepreneurs. upon primary industries. This industrial policy is thencombined The reality that many traditional primary producers would rather with a set of social policies lacking the mandate, the capability, and adapt to this new regime than get out of their i:rdustry altogether the resources to do more than help rural Australians avoid the will not surprise the corporations promoting the contract scheme. most debilitating consequences of the economic,employment, In fact, corporate leaders count on this tendency and use it to health and welfare problems hesetting them. extract more favourable contractual terms fromtraditional producers. COMMUNITY Ironically and sadly, the bottom line from this economic overview There is one other fundamental deficiency in the idea of using the is that the measures now in place to strengthen the leading combination of industrial and social policies as a de facto rural industries of rural Australia probably will weaken the socio- development strategy. Put simply, neither policy area deals economic status of rural Australians. They will not result in a net positively and appropriately with rural people and places as increase in rural, primary production jobs or income. communities. The new vision of primary industries coming into focus in Primary industries policy concerns itself with the efficient and Australia may, indeed, do wonders for the nation's foreign earnings profitable functioning of an economic sector. Rural communities, and balance of trade. What it will not do is creat... a better future as such, arc largely irrelevant. They may be oftangential interest as for the people and communities of rural Australia. Thus, it is a the usual source of certain inputs (from consumable supplies to classic illustration of why even a "good" rural industries policy can labour), and as the location of some required infrastructure (such be a rotten rural development policy. as telephone exchange or a railroad depot),for the industry But, if the closest community is, or becomes, incapableof EMPLOYMENT/INCOME adequately performing these industrial support functions, the If industrial policy cannot be counted on to spark a rural obvious priority is to secure alternative sources of support not rejuvenation, then how about the other half of Australia's de facto to get trapped in the quagmire of community improvement. rural development strategy: the social policy agenda? The basic Social policy concerns itself with the equity and access problems answer to this question is that social policy is concernedwith the facmg Australians, both as individuals and as members of specific distribution of Australia's "pie" (e.g., income, jobs, services, groups that governments have identified asbeing deserving ol amenities, access to opportunities) not with the creation of a pie big collective' attention (usually because of past diselimination). Thus, enough to ensure there really is plenty for everyone. Social policy there has been a dual emphasis on assuring all citizens a fair go cannot take the place of economic development and on "removing the harriers associated with race, gender, class A fair distribution of the current pie is a worthy goalIt's just riot and language" (Keating and Howe,1992) Rural people, per se, sufficient, in and of itx'lf, to create a brighter lucare for rural people have not been a priority constituency within the Labor Rural Australians are fortunate to live in a nation where they already Government's official social justwe strategy " do receive a reasonable share of what the society has to offer as As with many things in life, Australian social policy's greatest citizens As noted earlier, rural people, places and economies would strength (from a rural perspective) namely, that the benefits of be much worse off were the current flow of government-supplied citizenship are available to individual Australians, no matter how income, employment and services to be cut off small, unwealthy, or remote the place they reside may be also is The fact that all these established benefits of Australian citizenship its malor weakness This is the case for three reasons are geographically neutral has been the saving graceof a broad Tirst, as a rule, government assistance programs amelioratethe ertY6-se.elloll of rural Australians during the current recessionAt effects of problems on specific individuals, without addressing the the same time, it would be a bleak future, indeed, if the hestrural underlying causes Thus, lot example, in a small communny Of Awaralians could hope fiir is to he long-term ree 1411,o:11,g100 people unemplo)eil hee.111,e kle.11 annul); factoly closed, all 100 will get their individual unemployment payments. promoting equity in, and access to, the benefits of citizenshipfor Each also will be offered access, as individuals, to retraining all Australians social policy has been a success. programs. However, from a rural development perspective, social policy has a Most of the jobs for which they are being retrained will be ones dark side that only rarely is brought to light. Itis relentlessly that exist elsewhere (usually in a major centre) in the unlikely individualistic. It does undermine community cohesiveness. And, it event these jobs exist at all! The assumption is that getting ahead will continue to foster more dependency on government than means getting out. The resulting community decline is seen as an community self-reliance. Seen in this light, Australian social policy unfortunate, but inevitable, cost of promoting individual looks surpnsingly anti-social. advancement Whether community decline really is so "inevitable" Because of all these realities, the social policies now in place are no has become a moot point. The deck is stacked to make this a self- more capable of sparking a rural rejuvenation than Australia's fulfilling prophecy. current primary industries policy. Upon close examination, the For, with the rarest of excepuons, social policies do not facilitate combination of these two realms of public policy shows activities designed to help people suffering common setbacks to remarkably little promise of functioning well as Australia'sde facto work together to effectively come to grips with the underlying rural development policy. Consequently, we must conclude that social/economic problems afflicting them and their community rural development policy in Australia is broke and does need to be Neither is governmental intervention routinely designed to assist fixed if not entirely reconstructed. them to learn how best to work together as a community to improve their collective lot. In this way, government social programs tend to perpetuate the belief that people's problems are THE FOUNDATIONS OF RURAL RECONSTRUCTION strictly their own (and the government's) concern and that the only So, what does make more sense? As a starting point, Australia sensible responses to these problems are individualistic ones. This needs an explicit, powerful, and comprehensive rural development set of beliefs and behaviours effectively undermines any sense that policy rather than continuing to rely on its odd amalgam of people are "all in this together". industry and social policies. We think rural development policy Second, government social programs inadvertently have worked should give top priority to six goals: against community cohesiveness by segregating small, rural populations along the lines of eligibility criteria and thus, Goal 1.A growing rural population base. atomising these little communities into disparate, rival "client A significant net rural depopulation would be counter-productive groups". For instance, rural women get special breast cancer to the well-being of both urban and rural Australia, and, thus, screening services, but there is no equivalent prostate cancer damaging to the national interest. Given this reality, official screening program for rural men. Aboriginal members of the neutrality on the subject of population distribution serves no community are offered lots of goodies denied to their non- useful purpose. Aboriginal neighbours. Migrant kids get free help to improve their language skills, but non-migrant kids with language difficulties It is neither possible nor sensible for governments to ensure that have to arrange and pay for tutors. Ed Jackson, as a farmer, gets up everyrural community will increase or even maintain its current to two years of income support, plus a generous "re-establishment number of residents. Conversely, it is wrong for governments, grant'. to help him cope with leaving the farm but, Ed's brother, through action or neglect, to exacerbate the decline of rural Bill, gets nothing when his farm equipment business goes bust and communities. Governments should do all they reasonably can he has to sell his home to cover the business' debts. While there is in terms of their own operations, allocations and influence on the a defensible rationale in each of these cases, the point is that, private sector to assist rural Australia, as a whole, to increase its cumulatively, they exacerbate existing rural community tensions. population base in both absoiute and relative terms. Third, the programs and payments through which many social Goal2. An equitable share of the rewards derived from riml policies become manifest have created a deep dependence on resources should be reaped by rural people and communities. government assistance even in that last bastion of rugged independence: rural Australia. Faced with esc.ating demands and At present, rural Australia and rural Australians produce a shrinking budgets, Australian governments now are becoming disproportionately high share of the nation's wealth and assets enamoured with the idea of individuals and communities pulling and yet, they receive a disproportionately low share of the ensuing themselves up by their own bootstraps. benefits. There is nothing wrong with others sharing in the rural harvest. There is plenty wrong when it happens at the expense of It's going to be an uphill fight to sell this particular brand of "self- rural people and rural communities. reliance" to a public long-accustomed to thinking that "it is the government's job to sort it out" when times get tough. Australia Rural Australians, as citizens, are entitled to a fair go. They also can take pride in the strength and comprehensiveness of the safety deserve a fair share of the goodies directly attributable to rural net it has provided in the past for its citizens Dependency is places and people. A wide range of individuals and organizations nothing more than the other side of the same coin " (foreign and domestic, public and private) are thriving from their relationship with rural Australia. However, most rural people and One key problem is that governments too often provide what some places across Australia are not thriving. Rural Australians can ill- refer to as "disabling help". To the extent that rural individuals see afford to underwrite the well-being of others when their own well- themselves both as helpless victims (of whoever, or whatever, is being is anything but certain. the villain) and as passive clients of the government, they will have lost much of their will and their skill to improve their own There is something fundamentally wrong when rural people and prospects communities benefit last and least from "rural development". It is inexcusable when governnicnts themselves are party to such The same is true at the community level. When rural communities exploitation. Rural development policy worthy of the name buy into the individualistic, self-fulfilling negative prophecy advances the interests of all rural people and communities. It treats mentioned earlier, they lose much of thcir motivation and their them as ends worthy of respect, not as the means to other people's capaiity to arrive at collective solutions to their common ends problems. Similarly, when rural communities depend primarily on governments, they lose the knack of depending on each other In Goal 3.A growing and diversifyingruraleconomic base. such circumstances, it doesn't take long lor them to lose any meaningful sense of themselves as a community at all. It is useless to encourage more people to reside in rural Australia if the rural economy cannot productively absorb them. Similarly, it is The point here is not that Australia's major social policies should far easier to divide the rural economic pie fairly when the pie is be scrapped. The far-reaching web of social and educational getting bigger and there is plenty to go around. Accordingly, a key programs, policies and payments genuinely have helped a objective of rural development policies should be to foster a rural tremendous number (and proportion) of rural Australians over a economy that is growing in terms of both its sizeand its diversity (ow,iderahle cpan of timeIn terms of its avowed mandate Agriculture, mining, forestry, and fishing all will continue to be policymakers) must put aside the old "deficit model" that views cornerstones of Australia's rural economy. Desirable or not, rural communities strictly in terms of what they lack (compared to stratification among producers of the major export commodities the capital cities), rather than all they have (that can contribute to a into three groups large Australian corporations, transnational good quality of life). Most of all, rural development policies in this corporations with a network of mid-size Australian producers area must flow from the perceived needs and interests of rural under contract, plus a relatively small number of entrepreneurial people themselves rather than from the paternalistic presumptions producers who carve out a special niche for themselves seems of capital city-based policymakers far removed from the rural very likely to intensify scene. Small to mid-size primary producers are going to have to exploit Goal 6.Stronger, more cohesive rural communities. new options (in terms of both what they produce and how/where itis marketed) in order to stay in business. And, Minister Crean Existing social policies, programs and payments tend either to be and the Department of Primary industries and Energy are on target very individualistic, or to stratify rural people along demographic when they emphasize the need and opportunities for adding value and occupational lines. Such policies foster dependency on to primary goods. (Crean, 1992a, 1992b) The economic challenge governments, and exacerbate social tensions within rural Australia. is for rural Australians to position themselves to capture a much Rural development policy needs to place much greater emphasis larger share of this lucrative side of the primary industries on the oft-neglected task of helping rural people work together The economic diversity that already can be found across rural creatively, effectively, and cooperatively as communities. Developing Australia must be nurtured and expanded. Tourism, as well as local leadership, encouraging self-reliance, and strengthening services for retired people, second home owners and long-range community institutions in essence, local capacity building is commuters are obvious areas in which rural economic growth a necessary priority for rural dew-lopment policy evenat the could occur. There also are promising possibilities for both national level. Community development, unlike infrastructure recruiting and creating businesses (e g., those in information development, simply cannot be imposed from the outside: processing) that have no particular need to have most of their If taken seriously, and acted upon sensibly, a rural development employees physically located in metropolitan areas (Dillman,1991: policy emphasizing these six goals could profoundly improve the Horner & Reeve,1991). Rural development policy must actively future prospects of rural Australia and rural Australians. We encourage and assist rural people to become involved and recognize that these six goals all seem fairly innocuous and self- proficient in all these economic arenas, as well as a hundred other, evident. They give this impression, in part, because the inverse of smaller, more localized (but viable) enterprise opportunities each goal is so obviously undesirable. After all, who would (Bryden,1992). advocate a policy intended to result in 'weaker, less cohesive rural communities", let alone in "a collapsing rural economy"? Goal 4.A growing rural employment base. But, make no mistake about it, these six goals represent a radically One fundamental flaw with Australia's primary industries policy is different policy agenda than the one currently in place across that it is entirely possible (indeed, likely) that net earnings in this Australia. No one advocates the "other side" of these goals for the sector will increase dramatically without net rural employment same reason that no one creates a policy encouraging water to flow increasing by a single job. That may be okay from a bakmee of downhill namely, that it will happen on its own anyway. The trade perspective, but it would be a dead loss from a rural negative inertia in rural Australia today is sufficient to all but development perspective. guarantee that the inverse of each of these six goals will occur in a Except for the minority of people who have income sources that significant number of rural places. are mobile, most migration into Australia's rural and remote In this sense, the lack of an explicit, powerful and comprehensive centres has been in search of jobs. For all too many, it has proved policy in favor of these six rural development goals is the moral futile. There are a number of growing non-metropolitan places (in equivalent of a policy against them. No elite group secretly meets terms of population) that have unemployment rates way above the late at night in the state capitals, in Canberra, or overseas to plot national average. This is not the hallmark of successful rural the decline of Australia's rural people and places. The tragedy is development. that such a conspiracy need not exist at all in order for rural Rural development policy must focus on the task of turning Australians to continue to be harmed. Just doing nothing is all that economic growth into employment growth. In the rural context, is required to make sure that many of Australia's rural this also requires a lot of attention to the realms of self- communities, like water in a mountain creek, will continue in a employment and pluriactivity (the currently fashionable term for downward direction. Thus, we believe Australia's failure to create stringing together multiple income-producing activities and part- and implement a rural development policy worthy of the name time work to make ends meet) (Fuller,1990; Gray et a1,1993). In constitutes a pernicious sin of omission. other words, being fully employed in rural Australia will not Fortunately, it is not an irreversible failure. lt is not too late for always mean working a regular, year-round job in someone else's Australia to turn these six goals into realities. The first step is to enterprise or organization. understand that rural decline is neither inevitable, nor so difficult More employment in rural Australia and better employmentior (and expensive) to reverse that it would he foolish to bother rural Australians are not just worthwhile objectives. They also are a making the effort. crucial indicator of the extent to which rural development policies, While there is not a utopian bone in our bodies, we do believe that programs and activities actually are on the right track. Australian policymakers -- and perhaps rural Australians themselves have underestimated both the assets Australia has Goal 5.Animproved quality of rural life. going for it in a rural development effort and the relatively small Rural Australians want to have a good life, not merely make a good distance that must be traversed in order for Australia's rural living. They value the traditional rural amenities, such as fresh air, economy and communities to be back on track. Compared to the clean water, a nice environment, and a measure of peace and quiet rural development challenges facing most of the world's countries, They also value the amenities more often available to their mcluding quite a few OECD nations, Australia continues to live up metropolltan cousins from effective access to good quality, to its reputation as "the lucky country". affordable child care to the ability to take advantage of varied To cite one example, Australia does not have to contend with the educational, cultural and recreational opportunities. Within the problems of scale that accompany the presence of huge rural context of resource and circumstantial constraints, Australia populations Even if one applies the same principles, policies and already has reduced many key urban/rural disparities. practices, trying to create a better future for tens of millions of More could, and should, he done Rural development policies now rural pcople spread across thousands of rural communities is a far need to focus at least as much on building upon rural strengths as different, and more difficult, task than the one facing Australia. on (111111wnsating lor the "tyranny ol distance". Rural policy (and 6'hus, small rural population n. a big advantage BACKGROUND PAPER 23

Australia's other rural development advantages include Across rural communities Australia has some examples of, and some success in, using rurality to assist people in crossing the a the amount of usable space and the great, diverse, natural boundaries separating them For instance, the Country Women's resource base; Association of Australia, the Isolated Children's Parents' b the existing physical infrastructure (i e., transport, Association, and the Society for the Provision of Education in Rural communications, etc.); Areas have become significant national organizations In addition, cthe absence of abject poverty, widespread illiteracy, and poor a few excellent, interdisciplinary rural centies operate at the health; tertiary level most notably, those at the University of New dthe presence of social, educational, commercial and financial England, James Cook University and Charles Sturt University. institutions; However, there continues to be a gap in terms of an all-inclusive e the reality of widespread, untapik.d rural economic rural organization with a remit broad enough to serve as an opportunities; advocate for the six rural development goals presented here (or, for the relatively well-educated, skilled, diverse, clever rural whatever other formulation of the "the rural agenda" evolves in this population; and process). the level of public resources already flowing into rural communities Between rural communities and governments Thei'e is a tension inherent to the idea of having a nattond policy that should This foundation for optimism emphatically does not mean that manilest itself dIfferentl:, not only from state to state, but also rural development in Australia will be either quick or easy. It will from community to community. Governments at the national and not. We see no magic bullet, grand scheme, or emerging economic state levels are more experienced in pushing uniformity and miracle that will save the day in one fell swoop. We do not offer enforcing compliance than in fostering diversity and encouraging one best system for achieving rural development because we are local innovation convinced that no such system exists. Our experience tells us that the rural development process (to be implemented with integrity) Similarly, local communities are more accustomed to acting in must be as localized, idiosyncratic and multi-faceted as rural accordance with government directives (or reacting against them) Australia itself than they are in designing and taking responsibility for anything as complex as rural development. Nevertheless, governments and communities must find new ways of genuinely acting as partners, MOVING BEYOND CONSPIRACY THEORIES instead of remaining stuck in their familiar, counter-productive There is no conspiracy against rural Australia. Ironically, however, roles of provider/client, regulator/regulated (Kretzmann & what is needed most at the moment is a conspiracy in favour of McKnight,1993; Organisation for Economic Cooperation and rural Australia. People ought to be staying up late at night not Development,1990) only across the countryside, but also in the state capitals and Fourth, alliances should be organised and activated between the Canberra scheming together to advance the interests of public and private sectors. The public sector will have a heavy Australia's rural people and places. Although usualby thought of in hand in the rural development process. And yet, omnipresent as it negative terms, "to conspire" merely means to plot together toward is, the public sector cannot do rural development on its own a common goal literally, to "breathe together as one". (Davenport,Lynch & Douglas,1991). Ultimately, the success of Such unity of purpose and cooperative action have been rural development will hinge equally on the cumulative effect of conspicuous by their absence Instead, rural Australians have thousands of private decisions and actions from the individual organized themselves into a variety of splinter groups (usually to the community level, and from the small business to the along occupational lines) in the relatively rare instances when transnational corporation level. they have come together at all. This fragmentation is anathema to For the simple reason that neither side can succeed in fulfilling its the creation and implementation of effective rural development goals without the cooperation of the other, effective public-private policyWorse, in political terms, rural disunity allows partnerships will be both a cause, and a consequence, of genuine policyrnakers to act with impunity as they relegate rural rural development (Orgo.li..;ation for Economic Coormation and development to the "too hard" basket. Development,1991b &1986). The kind of explicit, powerful and comprehensive rural Fifth, alliances should be organized and activated across the urban- development policy outlined here cannot occur without a broad- rural divide. While there is much common ground and many based "conspiracy" in its favor. The six goals put forward are mutually-beneficial actions that could be taken, there is an acheiveable But, they will not happen by accident, nor will they be unfortunate tradition of pretending that rural and urban accomplished as the result of all the relevant parties behaving as if Austrahans are somehow not deeply interdependent. Few things they are Independent agents having no particular stake in the well- could be farther from the truth For instance, official trade policies being of any of the others aside, it is crystal clear that both urban and rural Australians would The difficult truth is that rural Australians indeed, virtually all benefit greatly by people throughout the nation really making an Ausuallans are in the same boat together. Since it not possible effort to "buy Australian" And yet, rural Australians happily go on to sink only part of a boat, Australians' fates are linked more buying imported manufactured goods when there are comparable intimately, and more powerfully, than they might prefer. If rural equivalents made in urban Australia At the same time, in order to people sink, everyone sinks. save a few cents, Australian city-dwellers (and food companies) think nothing of buying Brazilian oranges, for example, while Accordingly, the first step on the road to meaningful and lasting perfectly good Australian oranges remain unsold. rural development is to begin the process of organizing alliances and finding mutually-beneficial ways of interacting We see five Through jobs lost (or never created in the first place) in both major alliances that must exist for rural development to end up urban manufacturing and rural production, through higher taxes being more than a short-lived, ineffectual, flash in the pan. (to alleviate the hardships caused when jobs, business, and profits are siphoned off front the Australian economy), and through First, alliances should be organized and activated within rural unmet social needs (as the demands on the public sector exceed communities First, and foremost, rural people sharing the same available revenues), Australians pay dearly to maintam the illusion locales need to find ways to move beyond the old divisions among that urban' and rural people can afford to treat each other with them in order to recognize, and build upon, the common ground such cavalier disregard. It is time to stop pretending and to get on that can unite them. Even if their external "partners" in the rural with doing whatever each side can do to support and advance the development process fail them, there is much that united other. Therefore, one task of a national rural development effort communities can accomplish strictly on their own, but very little should he to conduct a campaign to help all Australians that divided ones will be able to achieve (Australian Local understand, and act positively in relation to, the fact of urban-rural Government Association, I QQ2) interdependence. It shOuld he understood that building these alliances is not just a behalf. Rural development validates the maxim that "self- preLondition for the real rural development that follows Nor is it government is always better than good government" ' just a necessary act of political constituency-building en route to Until recently, arguments in favor of rural self-reliance were the rural development agenda itself Rather, it is more accurate to considered controversial, and regarded with considerable disdain, view this organizing effort as a fundamental stage of rural by government officials. Now, sell-reliance and empowerment development have become trendy concepts in the same government circles. We During the first century of European settlement in Australia, rural would like to believe that this sea-change in attitudes is the result people and places were fundamentally self-sufficient and isolated of an objective analysis of actual experience with rural They quite literally lived or died on the wisdom of their own development initiatives around the world " decisions and the strength of their own actions. Agencies, events However, we suspect other factors have swayed the opinions of and forces emanating from the "big smoke" (and beyond) could some officials. For them, the appeal lies in the fact that this have an impact, but only rarely did they touch the lives of rural philosophy can be twisted to rationalize slashing public sector Australians immediately or profoundly. funding. In other words, rural people will be "empowered" to have During the second century, that deep isolation increasingly was too little access to too few resources to have any realistic hope of diminished. Modern transportation systems, the growth and sparking rural development. reach of government, the tight linkages with international For other less-than-noble officials, the appeal of rural self-reliance commerce, and, most recently, the presence of advanced can be found in the ability to pass the buck back to rural communication/information technologies all contributed to the communities. In this case, rural people will be "empowered" to bush becoming both less isolated and less independent. One shoulder all the responsibility for problems not entirely of their consequence of decreased isolation is that rural people and places own making, and then to accept all the blame when they cannot have become integrated into the larger fabric of Australian society solve these problems entirely on their own. For better and worse, they are no longer on their own. To harried bureaucrats who perceive themselves as being Many people and communities have not fully adjusted to the burdened with too few resources and too many responsibilities as changing realities of Australian rural life. And yet, whether or not itis, the temptation to kill both the budgetary and the they choose.to recognize, acknowledge, or make the best possible accountability birds with one stone "rural self-reliance" is use of, the ties that bind them to the rest of the nation, the fact of perfectly understandable. Nevertheless, it still is wrong. The need interdependence remains. Turning this fact to the advantage of for rural empowerment does not create a legitimate excuse for rural people and places is as significant a rural development governmental abdication. Empowerment-promoting public challenge for this generation as overcoming geographic 'solation policies and public officials continue to be necessary. was for previous generations. Properly understood, empowerment is the process by which all The crucial work lies in helping rural people put aside the illusion parties having a stake in rural development (i.e., all those in the of rugged independence in order to fully reap the benefits of a aforementioned alliances) come to agreement around two essential variety of mutually-beneficial partnerships. No one can say, in ;terns. First, they must find common ground at the conceptual advance, exactly what will come of the partnerships and alliances level, what will he done and who will play which roles. Second, mentioned earlier. They inevitably will develop a life of their own. they must agree on an operational strategy for marshaling and There may be disappointments and betrayals along the way applying the resources (human, financial, physical, institutional, However, it also is highly probable that progress will be made legal, educational, technical, etc.) necessary for all stake-holders to of a kind, and to a degree, wholly unimagined when these have every reasonable chance of playing their role successfully. partnerships and alliances first were formed. In essence, all stake-holders in the rural development process must be empowered to contribute, as partners, to the creation of the THE FOUR "E"S overall policy and implementation plan. Subsequently, each stake- The six rural development goals noted earlier answer the question holder is empowered to take responsibility for undertaking those of what is to be accomplished. The new rural alliances just specific aspects of the overall initiative each is best-suited and adequately resourced to ar:omphsh. Thus, empowerment is not described if brought to fruition answer the question about who will design, plan, fund, implement, and evaluate Australia's merely about consultation. Nor is it about superficial participation rural development policy. No single party to these alliances in the schemes that other parties create, impose and control as a neither local communities, nor the Commonwealth Government fait accompit. Rather, empowerment is about all stake-holders unilaterally can make rural development succeed. It will take a accepting and acting honorably in relation to their independent conspiracy among them all to create a better future for rural and collective responsibilities Australia and rural Australians. We must note that not all rural people are enamoured with the But, the question ahout "how" rural development best can be prospect of being "empowered", even in an authentic sense. Sonic accomplished remains to be answered In large measure, this final have become content with the dual role of passive client and active question must be answered by all the people, organizations and critic in relation to other people's actions However, rural agencies entrusted with the nation's rural development mission development is not a spectator sport. It is no more legitimate for Nevertheless, there are four arenas of action we would recommend rural people to abdicate responsibility lor rural development than in order to breathe life into the rural development goals. We refel it is for government officials to do so to these as the four "E"s. empowerment, environment, When any single stake-holder is faced with a seemingly entrepreneurship, and education What follows is a brief overview overwhelming rural development goal (such as, "a growing rural of each of the four "E"s employment base"), the common impulse is to run for cover, pass the buck, or toss the whole thing into the "too hard" basket Yet, Empowerment the power in empowerment collies from all stake-holders working The OECD nationsit least as much as Third Woild ones, have n together as a mutually-supportive team unfoitunate habit ol treating rural development as something to IX' The empowernient process allows stake-hol:lers to «itne togethei dtitte to rural areas, or for rural communities. What often is to figuie whit ii pieces of the action each can best accomplish on missing is any ethos that envisions rural development as something their own, which onc's require support from other stake-holders, that only can be done properly by and with rural people and which require joint actionIn other words, it is the process by themselves whit h rural development toals can be reduced to nianageable size Governmental pateinaltsm, no matter how well-mtentioned, is a and through whkh all stake-holders are IwIped to play to their very poor suhstitute for rinal communmes acting on their own individual andone( tive stienohs, rather than to their tespective weaknesses fundamental One concrete priority within this empowerment strategy is to re- Throughout the modern era, there have been two demands placed on farmers. One was quantitative toproduce as examine and, if necessary, re-create an institutional structure development Even much food as possible both to avoid politically destabilizing, that will enhance (rath-r than impede) rural other was engendering domestic shortages and to generate export earnings. The brilliantly conceived rural policies and programs to allow widespread support have been fatally underminedduring the economic to produce food as cheaply as possible have nearly everyone to purchase the "basics" whileallowing the average implementation process Across the OECD nations, there varied diet without 1)en so many such "slips 'twixt cup and lip"that intensive OECD citizen to have an abundant and attention is now focused on how best toreform, or create, spending too large a percentage of income on food). institutions that will do justice to everyone's good intentionsand The fact that farmers, for the first time in history wereable to that truly will "deliver the goods" (Stern,1992) routinely achieve these two goals was miracle enough tosatisfy previous generations How farmersaccomplished this miracle was Environment their business. Environmental considerations are an important pan ofeach of the Current consumers still want farmers tosatisfy these two six rural development goalsadvocated here. They are a vital, traditional demands. But, in the OECD nations, arelatively tempering influence, making people cognizantof both the wealthy, relatively powerful sub-group of consumers areraising unintended, negative consequences of developmentinitiatives, and the ante. They nowalso want agricultural products(fresh and the availability of better alternatives processed) that meet two higher critena. For example, while the steady in-migrationof people to non- The first of these is qualitative, that foods have the greatestpossible metropolitan, coastal areas over the past decade meetsthe goal of nutritional value and the lowest possible level ofhealth-risking "a growing rural population base", there arelegitimate concerns adulteration (at any stage, front seed to supermarket). Thesecond about the environmental damage now resultingfrom such new criterion is environmental,that producing food has the unplanned and uncontrolledgrowth.Ironically,the minimal possible adverse impact on the environment. accomplishment of this one goal in these places is now ruiningthe food that is chances of accomplishing another, equally important,goal: an In practical terms, this means consumers want improved quality of rural life. This conflict need not occur. produced without harmful chemicals that either destroythe quality Properly understood, rural development is along-term of agricultural land, or pollute above-ground/below-groundwater socially and supplies. This demand can be difficult to satisfy eitherfor technical phenomenon that must be economically, definitions and environmentally sustainable. To cause a net degradationof the agricultural reasons, or because of differing also are rural environment in the name of rural developmentis to be as standards among consumers (Reeve,1990). There the general foolish as the proverbial farmer who eats his own seed corn. contradictions within these preferences! However, direction of these demands, and the fact that theranks of those Fortunately, Australia already has recognized thiscontradiction making them are growing, remain clear. and is well on the way to creating a societal ethosof environmental that these consumers are protection and improvement. This can be seen inthe far more than It also has become increasingly apparent standards. In token attention given in recent years to "ecologicallysustainable willing to be flexible on the second of the traditional Australia,1992, other words, they have shown a willingness to puttheir money development" (ESD) (Commonwealth of for agricultural Ecologically Sustainable Development WorkingGroups,1992a, where their mouths are by paying higher prices l992b; Holmberg,1992). Even the Departmentof Primary goods meeting the new criteria. would be a Industries and Energy (which, in most other countries, All this has potentially huge rural developmentimplications for working to integrate bastion of anti-environmentalism) has been Australia. While there are real obstacles to overcome, italso is true an ESD philosophy into its mainstreampolicies and programs." that Australia may be well-placed to embrace these newcriteria. demand for this Governments also deserve considerable credit (asdo rural people For example, the fact that tnuch of the consumer northern hemisphere means that the themselves) for the energy, enthusiasm and skillwith which they type of food comes from the the National Lindeare Program. The opposite growing seasons here giveAustralia a competitive are beginning to implement local farmers there. combination of strategically-placed public fundingand extensive advantage (for six months a year, anyway) over voluntary participation on the part of primaryproducers, rural There also is a parallel domestic demand inAustralia. Important citizens and private organizations is a healthy one. This emerging market has not gone unrecognized.The Minister for rural substantive work is being done and an interesting new Primary Industries and Energy (and top DP1Eofficials) routinely development alliance is starting to emerge. include glowing references to Australia's "clean, greenimage and of pure, healthy foods" Beyond the role that environmentalism plays as abrake on unwise its capacity to produce a range (Crean,1992; Newton,1993). However, they aretalking more and unsustainable activities, environmentalconsiderations also possibilities for rural development about what could be than about what is trueof Australian farming. open up a wide range of new the underlying reality These include a host Of excellent new economicand employment Australia may have a clean, green image, hut routinely use their fair share of artificial opportunities in such areas as ecotourism,environmental audits is that Australian farmers and pesticides. and analyses, waste management andrecycling, solar energy agricultural inputs front fertilizers to herbicides outdoor education, products and services, environnwntal and The image alone will not suffice in gainingAustralian producers a mine-site rehabilnationmd water conservation(Griffiths, lQQ3a). stable foothold in the emerging market forgenuinely clean, green these enticing agricultural pro(lucts especially as consumerdemands are codified rhere are two related challenges in transforming definitional disputes about such possibilities into pragmatic opportunities. The first is tofigure out into testing standards, and as resolved Similarly, while it is true the nature and needs of the market for eachof these areas The terms as "organic" finally are will result in rural that Australia has the capacity to produce a rangeof pure and second is to engage in those activities that has been developed people and communities being at the cuttingedge of these healthy foods, it is not truc that this capacity deeply, within Australian agriculture development, very widely, or very tLawrence,1987). rural development Fliere is one other environment-oriented, the structure of Australian strategy worth special mention Flits isthe burgeoning area of what A dichotomy may emerge soon within agricultural agriculturC The "big ticket", traditional areasof agricultural imght be called "earth-friendly, health-enhancing" large-scale and production Farming of this kind is predicated upon thesignificant production are likely to become even more corporate-dominated In other nations, this has meantproduction shift in consumer ideologies and preferences inrelation to food In systems that are not particularlyclean, green or pure. For reasons turn, these attitudinal shifts are causing animportant realignment implications of big, the market for t»any agricultural products,particularly in the noted previously, the rural development corporate farming are not very positive. counti ies j. By contrast, there are very exciting rural development prospects in mentors to those people in their own communities who are the area of earth-friendly, health-enhancing food production, preparing to take the entrepreneurial leap (Commission for the processing, marketing and distribution. This type of agriculture is Future,1990) labor-intensive. Consequently, it has a job-creation potential that Other rural Australians long have engaged in what ,_an be called mainstream farming cannot match. It also has the advantage of survival entrepreneurship in which several seasonal jobs and freeing producers from the death-grip inherent to a system that income-generating activities have been strung together to make demands more and more expensive technological, land, and (often meagre) ends meet. In relation to these more marginal chemical inputs (usually resulting in enormous levels of debt) and, "entrepreneurs", the rural development challenge is to help them yet, results in lower and lower unit prices (and, thus, an inability figure out how to improve their work, their markets, their ways of to repay the debt). doing I.i.siness, and their results. This is a do-able task, but one It will not be easy to make the necessary changes, but it may be the unde..at:en too rarely, and too feebly, in Australia's past. last, best hope for current farmers to remain in and for new The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has the field of agriculture. Chief among the changes ones to enter given heightened attention to rural development over the past few will be the need for such clean, green farmers to organize yearsIt, too, now champions local entrepreneurship as one of the themselves effectively as a group for education and training, cornerstones of any sensible national rural development policy. As advocacy, quality control, purchasing, marketing and distribution OECD's Council notes : purposes. The merits of rugged individualism are likely to be seriously hmted here. The priority policy objective for most rural areas Ls to facilitate their competitiveness in the market economy by building on Entrepreneurship their natural advantages and encouraging economic diversification... The process of diversification and building This "E" hes at the heart of our recommended strategy for local economic bases is so important that.., local development Australian rural development. It is an integral part of each of the efforts now often stress measures to encourage local six goals outlined. In fact, it is not overstating the case to argue entrepreneurship and the expansion of existing, community- that without a significant new burst of entrepreneurial activity based enterprises as a more stable and inherently more across rural Australia, the prospects for deep and lasting rural beneficial form of development khan either relying solely on development are practically nil. the primary sector or recruiting outside industryl... The fact that so many communities have found the means to foster As a nation still experiencing the ravages of prolonged, high development and adjust successfully to economic changes is unemployment, Australia is understandably preoccupied with the reason to believe that, with modest help from central idea of job creation. However, governments cannot afford (even by governments, many others can as well. (Organisation for running budget deficits) to create enough publicly-financed jobs to Economic Cooperation and Development,1992a) meet the need. Moreover, to view job creation as "the answer" is to OECD followed up this rural development policy statement with look through the wrong end of the telescope. Job creation is an an excellent book entitled. Businesses and Jobs in the Rural World outcome, not a development strategy. (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Develop- The simple truth is that the best way to end up with more jobs, rnent,1992b). Among the many valuable insights and especially good, sustainable jobs, is to do three things: prevent recommendations offered are the following. unnecessary business closures; expand the productive operations 1. Above all, it is imperative that public policy move away from of existing companies; and, create successful new enterpnses. the practice Of trying to shield rural communities from Rural development policy and practice must be single-minded in change; unless exposed to change and given the resources their devotion to accomplishing these three tasks across non- and assistance to cope with it, they will continue to be metropolitan Australia. So much hinges on the realization of these trapped in dependency on external support. three tasks because they arc the only routes to genuine job 2. A local economic development approach, on the contrary, creation, not only in the private sector, but also in the public has the goal of assisting communities and their sector, as well (because of increased recenues to governments). entrepreneurs to manage change and exploit opportunities The other simple truth is that rural Australia has lots of viable new for development. It builds on the considerable capacity often economic opportunities, even in those places lacking any new job present in rural communities for innovation and opportunities. In every primary industry, all aspects of "value- entrepreneurship. Farmers, for instance, have a long adding", tourism, services, manufacturing, and other segments of tradition of self-reliance and entrepreneurship. Agricultural the economy, there are rural economic opportunities being policies have inadvertently transformed them into dependent producers, and locked them into a situation overlooked and left untapped (Griffiths,I993b). where the cmcial factor for success is not business acumen Everyone does not have to wait around for someone else to create so much as effectiveness as a polincal lobby The signalsthat robs for which they can apply Sonic rural people can create their these policies give are in the long term inimical to the own jobs by creating their own businesses development of rural areas The implication of this fact is that self-employment and 3 Policymakers will therefore have to respond to these entrepreneurship deserve to be accorded a far higher priority than challenges in new ways Four key areas where reform (an has been the case in the pastRural development, properly occur are understood, is the process through which rural people and The removal of disincentive's to entrepreneurship by communities come to discover and exploit the range ol economic outmoded regulations, controls, practices and institutions; opportunities to be found in their own backyards The provision of the necessary physecal infrastructure and In Australia, as in other OECD nations, small businesses have been intermediary agencies to assist entrepreneurs: the leading job creators. Sdf-employed people and small Investment in programmes and institutions for education businecces also have been the cutting edge in product and service and training, not only for the general workforce but alco innova(ions, the leaders in finding imd exploiting valuable "niches" speciftcally for entrepreneurs, and (or people wanting ro withm domestic and international marketsmd the segment of the start and expand their own business; and buciness world that most frequently buys Australian, remvests Creation of'eflective local capital marker- and improved profits domestically, and produces a multiplier elfect within access to capital Ansualia (Conunonwealth Department of Industry, Technology is both natural and coireet for rural and Commerce, I 092) One final point. It development policy to emphasrze entrepreneurshtp lor 01 course. many rural Australians already are self-employed, or There is no subst ttute lot the combmation ol an individual with an Inc n and operate their own enter-prices Quite a few havedonenul entrepreneurial ..park and .1t1 envirr num)! In wlur h that spat k is nc doing %cell Indeedthey have: a valuable role: to play as 0 fanned through appropriate kinds, and levels, of support from intensive and extensive educational process (Daugherty,1992; other people and institutions. Landrak,I992; Vickers and Sher,1992,). At the same time, it also is useful to think of entrepreneurship in The educational dimension of entrepreneurship is poorly broader terms than specific commercial ventures owned and understood and badly under-developed. Worse, there is the operated by a particular person. The essence of entrepreneurship is presumption reflected in the preponderance of one-off not business management, but rather the cultivated ability to see workshops, short courses, and other brief, superficial training and seize opportunities, where others see only problems or see activities that learning how to become a successful entrepreneur nothing at all. is no more difficult than learning how to decorate a cake. This is the kind of trivialization that directly contributes to the high failure The classic traits of successful entrepreneurs perseverance, rate among new businesses. Access to markets, advice, or money creativity, an ability to marshal and use available resources, . all .become meaningless if the budding entrepreneurs accorded attention to detail, open-mindedness, and the ability to learn from such access are ill-prepared to use these resources wisely (Vickers experience all would hold communities in good stead. and Sher,I992, Northdurft,1992, Hawken,1987 and Melo,1992). There is considerable scope for local organizations, institutions and In short, the prospects for rural development and, thus, the leaders to develop more entrepreneurial ways of thinking about, prospects of a better future for Australia's rural people and places and acting in relation to, the collective challenges and are remarkably dependent upon a broad range of appropriate opportunities before them. This may involve a group of farmers educational options and activities. Schools, in fact, can be a and environmentalists joining together in a Landcare project powerful starting point for the kind of rural reconstruction needed designed to enhance their area's physical assets. It could include in so many areas of the country (Cumming,I992; Nachtigal & several parents and teachers working collaboratively to establish a Haas, 1989; Nachtigal & Hobbs; 1988; Sher, 1978,1986 &1987;) school-based tele-cottage in their small town. It might mean the establishment of a small business incubator where local people There is reason for optimism in this situation (McShane & with a good enterprise idea would be assisted through subsidized Walton,1990). Australia is significantly ahead of most other OECD space and business support services, (e.g., office equipment and countries in terms of two important aspects of education. First, the accounting help). Or, it even could involve a core of displaced general quality of both teachers and schools across rural Australia workers finding a way to acquire and operate an abandoned is reasonably high, and compares favourably with rural education factory. Whatever the specific local wrinkle on this general idea provision in other nations (Sher,1982). Second, considerable . may be, the point is that a wise rural development policy actively ingenuity aril resources (e.g., through the School of the Air supports community entrepreneurship, as well as individual system) have been devoted to the challenge of meeting the basic business creation and rural self-employment. educational needs of Australian students living in places too remote for there to be a local school. Education Australia's success in all these key areas is attributable largely to Last, but certainly not least among the four "E"s, we come to the combination of effective advocacy by rural parent groups and education. From a rural development perspective, education is society's willingness to spend significant resources to give everyone both the necessary precondition and the primary enabling strategy "a fair go" (National Board of Employment, Education and for the other three "E"s. Training,1991, Dawkins & Kerin,1990 and Commonwealth Schools Commission,1988).)3 As conceived and described here, empowerment cannot be achieved with the stroke of a pen for it goes well beyond any However, this is hardly the time for resting on laurels.' The long- official administrative delegation of authority. It is a profoundly standing commitment to good quality, local schools throughout educational endeavour through which all the stake-holders learn rural Australia is crumbling in the face of budget deficits and what must be done to bring about rural development, as well as "squeakier" wheels. Some rural schools are being closed, others are how best to do these things. In addition, the institutional demoralized by constant threats of closure, and most are being dimension of empowerment involves reforming all rural forced to cut far more than corners, frills or fat. These steps educational institutions front child care centres, through every backward can only harm rural development. level of formal schooling, to the multi-faceted world of adult and Australia must not squandet its current assets and prior community education by helping them learn how to play their investments in rural education. As in all other essential most positive roles in the overall rural development process. components of rural development, the problems will not disappear Similarly, the environmental agenda outlined here should be seen by ignoring them. The good news is that, even in these austere as an educational undertaking from beginning ,o end. Helping times, there are unprecedented opportunities available to government officials, business leaders, and interested citizens Australia's rural schools. The key to realizing these opportunities is understand the rural development implications of Australia's rich to take seriously the centrality of rural education institutions inthe diversity of rural ecosystems (and the connections among them all) overall rural development process. is the educational task that will make ecologically sustainable Technological innovations in the delivery of educational services to development more than a slogan. Figuring out how to bring the isolated children and boarding schools for older students raised on wealth of potential employment and economic benefits of ESD to stations and in other remote locations have a proud history. These successful fruition is an educational challenge as is the work of unusual delivery systems are the ones that garner a large helping rural Australians take full advantage of these potential percentage of the (minimal) recognition both the media and benefits. politicians accord to rural education Yet, these systems directly So, too, it will he an educational effort of considerable magnitude impact only a small number and miniscule percentage even of to assist farmers employ new clean, green technologies and Australia's rural students Moreover, in rural development terms, methods appropriately and efficiently. Even the job of getting these delivery systems divert attention away from education's everyone to reach agreement about terminology in the complex actual and potential roles in rural community reconstruction sphere of earth-friendly, health-enhancing agricultlire isit heart, An overwhelming majority of rural ihildren, adolescents and adult educational ..tudents attend local educational institutions'I hese rural schools The ultimate success of entrepreneurship, as a rural development usually arc smaller, more basic, and less comprehensive than their strategy, also hinges to a surprising degree on educational Factors metropolitan counterparts, but this does not imply that the quality From learning to correctly identify, research and plan viable of teaching and learning are deficient. Good schools and bad enterprises, to learning to master the technical skills and Ont's can he found in all different sizes and locations. knowledge base a given business demands; and from learning to However, there often are significant differences in the dominant effectively target, reach and satisfy custonwrs/markets, to learning urban and rural attitudes and expectations in relation to their local to properly set up, finance, manage, and sustain a profitable schools These differences have important implications for rural husiness successful enuepreneurship is best understood as art, development For exaniple, while most ments and educators notti.urban and rural care about their children and want them Strengthening this segment of the rut al education scene will to have the best schools possible, there are divergent views of what help rural developmentoccur more effectively, more widely "best" means In an urban context, there is a heavy emphasison and more quickly. education as preparation for the socio-economic competition students will enter in a tnetropolitan region. This is basicallya Expanding educational offerings (formal and non-formal) that competition to get as far "up the ladder" as one can in a variety of encourage and foster rural entrepreneurship. Rural Australia large scale institutions (e.g., in universities,government needs people who can think andact entrepreneurially. The departments, and corporations). In a rural context, this skills and attitudes characteristic ofentrepreneurs are precisely competition seems more less relevant and urgent, perhaps because the ones that will enable rural developmentto become more the rural "ladder" is short, there's an emphasis on self-employment, than just a policy. Accordingly, rural Australia cannot affordto and local organizations am.. institutions tend to be small scaleones keep having entrepreneurship education either ignored operating on the basis of personal and familial relationships. altogether, or, even worse, undermined by the attitudes and actions of many educators. One irony here is that rural schools have both fewerresources and a more complex mission than urban ones. Rural educators Rural Australians should not continueto passively accept a understand the necessity of preparing their studentsto succeed in situation in which so much of their entrepreneurial potential is the urban context (given that many students eventually migrateto squandered, while those who do succeedas entrepreneurs have a city) And yet, their students also must be equipped to be done so largely despitetheir education, rather than because of it. successful in the local rural context. There isan expectation that There are positive alternatives available suchas the REAL niral schools prepare their students to function well 'hi-culturally" Enterprises program that, if properly implemented, would he a as people who may move back and forth between city and country boon to rural development.34 many times By contrast, there is no expectation placed upon urban schools to prepare their students for anything beyondcity life. CONCLUDING COMMENTS Prime Minister Keating has stressed that Australia In both urban and rural areas, there is a consensus about the need must go beyond being a lucky country and become for students to develop strong basic academic skills. Yet, a clever one, as well. The in the essential message is that Australia has relied countryside there appears to be a broader and deeper faithin the too heavily on its idea that the school should play a vital community role that bountiful endowment of natural resources, andtoo little on extends past developing the formal competencies of individual properly nurturing the creative talents, innovative capacity and entrepreneurial spirit of its citizens. students. In part, this reflects the dearth of other vital community- wide rural institutions However, it also reflects the rural tendency This message has a special poignancy for rural people. Theyare the to see and value the interconnectedness of all the components of ones who have been, and remain, most reliant upon Australia's their local community. vast natural endowment. And so, it appears to he their proud history and their great accomplishments thatare being sold short. A rural development policy worthy of the name will includea compelling vision of what an excellent rural education should After all, it wasn't merely luck that enabled rural Australiansto encompass It also will address the issue of how best to make transform the often bleak and daunting countryside intoa horn of plenty for the whole nation. It also took large amounts of education a central part of the overall rural agenda. Ourown view courage, is that this must include perseverance, faith, hard work and yes, cleverness. A concerted effort to make the rural community the foundation Still, there is no denying the truth in this message. The future will and focal point of the curriculum (rather than remaining belong to those best able to grasp the new opportunities presented by a world in flux Rural development can be incidental to it)Routinely using the local area as a hands-on a powerful tool for this purpose. In fact, by adding value not just to "real world laboratory", and local peopleas "learning a product but to an entire society and economy, genuine rural development may be resources", to complement classroom instruction would be an the ultimate "value-adding" activity. important step in the right dtrection. While already happening in some places, non-trivial versions of this idea are far from Only a clever nation can design and implement rural development standard pracUce. properly. Australia can be that clever nation. But, to doso, it must move beyond the conventional wisdom, and embrace a vision of Educational activities (formal and non-formal) thatencourage young people in rural Australia to take pride in their rurality rural development in which the well-being of rural people and communities really do matter most. and in their communities. This should not bean attempt to put blinders on them, or to try to keep them "downon the farm" or in their own communities." Outmigration has been, and remains, an option for rura! students. However, the option to 1 he views and recommendations found in this article are strictly those of stay and succeed (especially in rural areas with declining the authors. 1 he Department of Pnmary Industries and Energy neither traditional industries) too often has been ignored and left wrote nor altered a single word of this text Thus, it should not he under-developed construed as a statement of official DPIE or Govemment policy,nor should the opinions expressed herein be quoted as if they are those of officials Rural development is, in part, an act of faith andan attitude connected with the Department of Primary Industries and Energy Whether or not they ultimately stay, thereis nothing to lose similarly, any errors of tact and interpretation are ours alone. and much to gain by encouraging rural studentsto see both the general value of rural life and the specific possibilities for 1 his arte:le is dedicated to. Nadine and Jeffery Rowe, at whose small family fann it was written -- and without whom it never would have been making their communities more vibrant written at all; Max Jeffery Sher, in the hope that he, along with other members ol Strengthening adult and community educationacross rural the next generation, will reap the benefits of the rural development strategy Australia There uirrently are many educational we have proposed here: and Susie and Tevie, who quietly and contentedly activities takine have devoted their lives to rural regeneration place in rural Australia outside the confines of formal schooling and decree-granting courses of studyIf one remembers to We also v.oull like to acknowledge the trust, collegiality, and valuahk include technical and further educationinstitutions, assistance accorded us by DPII 's Rural Division stall especrally tim cupational/industiy groups, to various social/cultui al c,ordon uregory, Megan Cook, layne (iarnaut and Onko Ningmaf hanks organization, one can find myriad adult and community also are due to creoff (aldwell and the staff of the Centre for Continuing Education at Australian National University for so kindly making space and edmation sponsorsigendas, and outcomesacross the support available to us during the period we were in Canberra Bob ountrvside (Parliament of Australia, N) I ) Meyenn (Dean of the Faculty of Education at (:harles Stun University) and Much of this educational work is alreadyor easily could liewme David MeSwan (Director of the Rural Education Research and related to malor rural development goals and Development (entre at lames (.00k Unwrsity) read an earlier version of strategies this paper and made a variety ol very helpful comments and corrections However, rural athilt and community education programs tend lane I larvey deserves ( ri d t lor doing a sensitive copy-editing ioh at slain io ht. nod, 11c. (MR ill,uiIi'i .11Id undet-unlized mot Finally, we wish to acknowledge the extraordinary neighborliness. elections have made it apparent that it is nu longer an oxymoron to fnendship and hospitality extended to us by Rose and Wendy Lungenmuss mention "rural electorates" and "Labor Party" in the same breath. who opened their home to us whenever we needed a quiet place to Although the Keating Government certainly was not elected because of read, wnte and reflect the rural vote, it is the case that it could not.have survived without some key non-metropolitan constituencies. 9.As one might expect, the movement of people in and out of rural NOTES Australia fluctuates significantly from time to time and place to place. Sonic rural areas have expenenced important population losses in 1. This uses the most restrictive definition of rural (i e., all places with fewer than 1,000 residents) and is the nwasure traditionally employed recent times, especially in the sheep/wheat belt of inland Australia. by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). Using the new During the same penod, however, rural communites along the New Commonwealth definition of rural (Le., all non-metropolitan places South Wales and Queensland coasts have experienced rapid with fewer than 100,000 residents), the proportion of the Australian population growth. As a rule, major rural and remote centres have population classified as rural leaps to more than 33%. grown faster than smaller places. The basic point being made here is that there has not been a net rural 2. Using the ABS definition, there are approximately 2 3 million rural Australians (less than 15% of the total population). Using the new depopulation taking place across the nation. From June, 1976 to June, Commonwealth definition, there are more than 5 7 million non- 1989 a period encompassing any number of 'rural crises", metropolitan Australians (around 34% of the total). droughts, floods, mouse and locust plagues, distorted international commodity markets working against Australia's farmers, and bad years "I. Of course, there is no need for value-adding industries to use the for specific segments of the farm economy rural Australia, however products of rural Australia. There also is the option ol importing these defined, experienced a net in-migration from other pans of Australia. mdustnal inputs. However, that causes problems for the nation's trade Depending on the definition of "rural" one employs, there were balance. IL also raises the question of how well urban Australia's somewhere between 71,446 and 479,693 more Australians moving manufacturers could compete in world markets, if it had (for example) into, than out of, rural communities over these years. When one adds Japan's problem of having to import most pnmary goods. to these figures the natural increase in the population (i.e., how many Since Australtan manufacturers are haviog a hard enough time more rural people were born than died) and remembers the relatively competing internationally even with the great advantage of a vast small 1976 rural base population, it is clear that rural Australia, despite array of rural products in their own backyard the answer is not hard times, is growing rather than declining. (For further information likely to be very positive. Accordingly, Australian value-adding and anaylsis, see Salt,1992). activities are likely to remain dependent on rural Australia as the main 10. In addition to all the data and analyses produced by university-based supplier of essential pnmary products for the foreseeable future. agricultural economists and industry-based researchers, there are 4. It is a cunous fact that there Ls no widely agreed upon, and consistently multiple research units within the DPIE. On farm-related economic employed, definition of larmer" ni Australia. There are definitions matters, the principal DPIE unit is the Australian Bureau of based on ownership status, employment category, residence, average Agricultural and Resource Economics (ABARE). According to DPIE's hours worked, goods produced, cash value of agricultural activity, and 1991-92 annual report. ABARE was allocated 303.5 staff years and size of property. However, these distinct data sets have not been made outlays in excess of $16 million dollars that year. The annual integrated nor can they he sensibly compared and cross-referenced. report also indicates that, in addition to ABARE's 12 regular series of (For further information see Garnaut,1993. statistical reports and publications, this unit (during that year alone) To make matters worse, there is broad agreement among government was directly responsible for more than 100 (mostly farm-related) officials and other interested parties that the original data sets are technical documents, research reports. and conference papers. themselves suspect because most of them are gathered through a 11. here are, of course, public servants in other Commonwealth agencies highly-imperfect system of self-reporting. Thus, for cultural reasons, having responsibilities for policies and programs of direct importance women farmers are undercounted. Similarly, for tax reasons, farmers to rural Australia and rural Australians. However, no Commonwealth have a motivation to underreport their economic activities and agency divides its turf in such a way as to assess let alone modify the

earnings. , thcre are (Useful insights can be gleaned from overall, cumulative impact of its activities on rural people and places. Williams,1992, although there are problems with these data, too.) 12. At the time this article was written. Simon Crean had been Minister for 5. Calculated as the number of full-time 'farmers and farm managers" a few years In December. 1993, Mr. Crean moved up to become e., those self-reporting on the 1986 Australian Census as doing work Minister for Employment. Education and Training. He has been on their own farm for an average of more than 35 hours per week) as a replaced as by Sen. Bob Collins. Interestingly, Mr. Crean's immediate percentage of the total number of people living in the open predecessor (and fellow member of the Australian Labor Party) John countryside and in non-metropolitan places having fewer than Kenn took this broader rural remit more to heart than any other 100.000 residents in 10 (according to the DPI, based on Australian Minister in recent memory. Former Pnme Minister Bob Hawke also Bureau of Statistics 1199,11 data) . Thus, by this definition, there were devoted an unusual degree of attention to non-farm rural issues 211,108 Australian farmers in 1986, out of a total rural (i.enon- Ilawke,1 989). However, this nascent attempt to deal more metropolitan) population of 5.765.000 comprehensively with rural Australia did not survive the transition from the I lawke Government to the Keating Government. 6 Calculated as the number of people employed in agriculture and related activities (including full and part time farmers, agncultural 13.Indeed, there doesn't even appear to be agreement on whether to treat workers and contributing family members) as a percentage of the total this as a legitimate topic of public attention and policymaking or number of people living in the open countryside and in places having whether to behave as it rural/urban population distnhution (like the fewer than 1,000 residents (according to the Australian Bureau of weather) is impervious to whatever plausible decisions and actions staustic,) in 1080 1 hus. by this definition, there were 384,000 might be taken. We believe the questions raised here are the legitimate Australian farmers in 1080 ou«,f a total rural population of concem of the people most directly affected (rural Australians). the 2251,100 public at large, and goveniment at all

7 A related stereotype is that rural communities are models ol We also believe that it makes more sense to behave as if these relevant egalitanamstn Unfortunately, however, Australian rural communities parties have considerable influence in shaping the future of rural have not escaped the burdens of disc nmination and stratification based Australia, than to behave as if they can do no more than ineffectually upon all the fainthar categories: race, religion, national ongin/ethrucity, react to extemal forces. gender, wealth/income, occupation. sexual orientation, and age 14 Such politicians evidently fad to see the irony in their position. given Although interpersonal discrimination and socio-economic tensions the resentment felt toward them for heeding from the same public may manliest themselves differently in Penh versus Halls (reek, the trough. Ihe larger point, however, is that it would be hard to find sad fact remains that rural Australia is not an egalitanan's dream conic Australians who are not substantially subsidized from the public purse, nue in both their work and family lives 8 Ihe tendent y of su h agricultural publications to assume, if not 15 Our perspective is coloured by comparisons w b the extraordinanly explicit!) claim, to speak for the rural population is ubiquitous across difficult and "unfair" situation ol rural people it. .he great rnapnty of Australia Since most ol these penodicals unabashedly support the the wbrld's nations Even in the United States, t Iavailability and National Party (or the Liberal/National (.oalition). unc is supposed to quality ol public services and assistance to rural people vanes greatly. draw the inference that niral people vote as a unified conservative hut rarely would compare favourably with what routinely is found in block. Australia And yet. voting patterns are another indicator of the growing 16The Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource 1-conom icr divergence between self-perceived (arm and rural interests. Australia's (ABAR1., 1092), using Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data agricultural sector traditionally has aligned itself with whatever party classifies larms having an annual estimated value of agricultural nir coalition of parties) opposes the Labor Party. 1lowever, reccot operations in excess of 120,000 as "commer(ial" According to ABAREJABS, in 1991, there were approximately 120.000 commercial rural developmetu lags well behind that routinely employed ui Fhird 1.IIMS in Australia, of which around 102,000 (81%) were considered to World nations often under the leadership of experts from OECD he "lamily farms".(Austrahan Bureau ol Statistics, 1992) As of 1991, countries! It is an enduring ni)stery why (beyond snobbery) the the threshold hgure for conlmercial status has increased to $25.000 connection so rarely is made between what already has been learned in (1 hese figures don't match up exactly with those used earlier in this nthaetit'l lnhs.ird World context, and what needs to be leaedrn in the OECD article due to differences among data sets.) 17. What DPIF's Annual Report reveals is that funding for these initiatives 28. Indeed, the Minister or DPIE officials rarely make a speech, or issue a is nothing more than the proverbial drop in the bucket. The Pnmary major repon. that does not include more than a passing reference to Industries Marketing Skills Program, for instance, received less than I ESD. It has become similar to the automatic inclusion of "social justice" million dollars out of DPIEs 1.9 billion dollar budget last year. This, in in their statements and publications. Only time will tell, however, the turn, raises questions about the extent to which these programs are extent to which either of these truly affect what is done. public relations efforts, rather than senous attempts to help traditional 29 Among the contradictions is the fact that consumers want both pure, producers make the necessary adjustments and transitions. chemical-free food and perfect-looking (unblemished) food. This is 18. "Matto" refers to a recent, and highly controversial, court decision hard to achieve. However, there are some encouraging developments, affirming the land rights of Australia's indigeneous people. 1 arge such as Dr. Wong's research at the Tasmanian Department of Pnrnary primary producers, particularly in the mining and livestock industries. Industries on using natural alkaline materials to eliminats fungal have been angered by this decision and their perception of tts adverse damage (blemishing) on apples. Others have repeatedly made the implications. (For background information (since the story itself still is point that such advances could become common if existing agriculture unfolding), see Commonwealth of Australia,1993.) research pnonties, and budget, were r?-directed toward these areas 19. Sonic analysts argue that the introduction ol the new agricultural 30. Ironically, the political strength of the parents of isolated children (and hotechnologies into Australia will heighten dependence upon the the romantic image to urban policymakers anyway, of Schools of the foreign firms that control these innovations. (See lawrence.1987). Air) arc having some counter-productive' effects. It appears that some pohticians and officials make the unfortunate mistake of thinking that 20 While having a clear administrative rationale, it is perhaps also a telling once they have -taken care of' isolated kids, they have met the needs sign that responsibility for the Earm Household Suppon Scheme has of Australia's rural students. This is analagous to the mistaken belief been vested m the Department of Social Secunty, rather than the DPIE. that "famiers" and "rural people" are synonymous terms. Pnmary producers, like the rest of us, show an amazing ability to avert 21 31. A new book. Educanon and Public Policy in Australia (Margtson, 1993) self-criticism and responsibility-taking. In real life, they played a sounds an important warning about the direction in which Australian significant, active part in creating this sad story. education, as a whole, is headed (Marginson,1993). On the rural side, Ilowever, pnmary producers arc not merely "whingeing" when they specifically, there also is cause for a bit of alarm. Consider, for accuse others. The set of assumptions upon which Australia's public example. a recent article in The land (24 June, 1993), in which Hon. and private sector leaders have based their policies are not gospel. An Ross Free, the Commonwealth Minister for Schools, Vocational awful lot of faith is being placed in the notion of "free markets" and Education and Training, gave a brief overview of the national agenda "level playing fields", when there is precious little hard evidence that for rural education. the "market distortions" that have bedeviled Australian primary He begins by noting that the Country Areas Program will cease to have producers really will disappear. When push comes to shove (as a so a seperate identity as of 1994 Not a very rural development-onented often does in a world of commodity surpluses), it stretches one's move, lle then refers to the dnve for higher niral retention rates, credulity to believe that powerful nations will refrain from acting in specifically mentioning the millions of dollars to be spent on powerful, albeit hidden, ways to promote their own interests over the building/refurbishing hostels for rural students. This, of course, only scrupulous maintenance of a "level playing field". has meaning to the tiny, albeit politically influential, fraction of rural Furthermore, the rules of the game do favor large. transnational students who are too isolated to attend local schools. corporations. This ts not the subject of much debate. The controversial To conclude, he devotes the most space to rural vocational education question is whether this is the "natural functioning" of a free market and training.Ile announces that Rural Traineeships and economy, or a major "market distortion" in its own right. Apprenticeships svill be offered in (only!) the following areas: 22 there certainly are primary producers involuntarily going out of agriculture, horticulture, timber, horse management, and wool business and a declining number of owner/operators in farming, combing! So much for a comprehensive response to either the current fishing, forestry and mining. What there is not is a mass exodus of realities, or the future prospects, of Australia's rural economy. owner/operators across the breadth of the nation's pnmary industnes. 32. Clay Cochrane coined a termforthis phenomenon [he national statistics on farming (the usual focus of media attention) "metropollyanna", this the mistaken belief that, sooner or later, are clear. According to ABARE's Commodity Statistical Bulletin: 1992, in everyone will end up in city and live happily ever after. 1986-87 there were 128,707 "agncultural establishments": farms with 13. In December, 1989, then Prime Minister Hawke issued a major an annual estimated value of agricultural operations in excess of Statement on Rural and Regional Australia. As founders of the U.S.- $20,000. And in 1990-91 there still were 124,975 such establishments based program to %Ouch Mr. Hawke refers in this Statement. we can in business. (Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Rsource only applaud his suggestion and express the hope that Australians will Economics, 1992) A drop, yes: an exodus, no. act on it one day. 21 One key reason is that transnattonal corporations are more interested 1 he process ol economic self-help requires a local commitment to in having assured markets for their inputs and a secure source ol changernd this often begins with the development of a local than good quality, raw commodities to which they can add value consensus that the "do-nothing" option is not acceptable... 1 he States they are in doing the hard (marginally remunerative) work, and and local authonnes will contimie to provide the specific financial assuming all the nsks, inherent to operating production units all over assistance to local or regional enterprise. developments. In doing so. it the face of Australia is to be hoped that those authonties will benefit from sonie of the best 24I here are some "locational issues" addressed by the government's in innovative ideas front overseas, such as the school-based rural Social justice Strategy. but they are very minor in terms of the enterprise activities in the United States (I lawke, 1989) pnonues expressed and the resources allocated.I he biggest (more or less) rural thrust is the emerging "North Australia Social fustice Strategy" Even here, the goal is not to develop stronger it .1 al communities, hut rather "to ensure the better delivery of necdcd REFERENCES services". 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Simon, The Challenges Facing Australian Food Exporters, I'vanston, Illinois Center for Urban and Policy Research, Northwestern Address delivered at the Annual Conference of the Agribusiness Universay,1 991 Association of Australia and New Zealand. Surfers Paradise, 1993 andrak. I lakon It, Inuatives toIncrease competence for Entrepreneurship and Crough, Greg, Visible and Invisible. Aboriginal People in the Economy of fob creation, Stavanger, Norway Stavanger College of Education,I992 Northern Australia, Darwin: North Australia Research Unit, ANU and the awrence. Geoffrey, Capitalism and the Countryside Ihe Rural Crisis in Nugget Coombs Forum for Indigenous Studies,I903 Australia, Ss Ailey Pluto Press,I987 Lunen, loin. P. Dunn. G Lawrence (editors), Rural Health and Welfare in Australia, Wagga Wagga Centre for Rural Welfare Research, Charles awrence, C., IGray, P Share, Rural Social Research in Australia. 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R A Douglas, ( country towns and Fluctuating Rural I he Spiral Down to Poverty- Rural c ommunines in Crisis, Fortunes. Is there a ( use for Assistance?, in Review of Marketing and ippert, Noela. Agncultural I.conomics (Vol 50, No.1, December 1991) Canberra Australian Catholic ScKial Justice ( ounelL1991 Das ulson, Brian & I ees mi, An Investigation of Poverty in Rural and Remote Ma rginson. Simon, 1-duca non and Public Policy in Australia, Melbourne Regions oq Australia- towards a Method /or Lompunng Poverty levels ambridge University Pres,199 Between Regions and Between l abour Force Categories. Armidale Rural McShane, M & Walton, I. (editors),I hinh lank" (in Research into Rural ievelopment I. entre. University ol New Ingland,1991 1-duicaion,I ownsville Rnral Research Development Centre, lames t ook Itliversity ol North (..?tlectosland IOW BEST COPYAVAILABLE i5 Iltemational Conference On Issues Affecting Rur al Communities Townsville I 0-IS July 1994

and Melo. Alberto. Education and TrainingforRural I ntreprerworship, iii Vickers, Margate( & Sher, lon.ahan P , thvning 'hot Own f3usmess Busincssrs and jobs in the Rural World, I arts OECD, 1992 I heir Own Learning: Reflections on the Educatton of RI Al Entrepreneurs, NaLhugal. Paul 2 lobbs, Daryl, Rural DevelopmentThe Role of the Public Chapel Hill, N.C.: REAL Enterpnses,1992 St hools, Washington D.0 National Governors Assoc iation.1988 Walmsley, D.J. & Sorensen, A.D., Contemporary Australia: Explorations in Nac htigal. Paul & Haas, Toni, What's Noteworthy on Rural Sc.hools and Economy, Society and Geography, Second Edition, Melbourne Longman ommunity Development, Denver. Mid-Comment RegionalEducation Cheshire,1993 Lahoratory,1989 D.B. (editor), Agnculture in the Australian Economy (I hird National Board of rniployment, Educauon and Training, 'toward a National Edition), Sydney: Sydney University Press,I990 Education and Training Strategy for Rural Australians, Canberra Australian Government Publishing Sersace.1991 Williams, J. The Invisible Farmer: A Report on Australian Farm Women, National Population Council, Population Issues and Australia's Future Canberra. Department of Pnmary Industries and Energy,1992 Environment, Economy and Society, Canberra Australian Government Publishing Service,1991 ABOUT THE AUTHORS Newton, Alan, Australian Agriculture and Food: A 1301,I Future. Speech presented to the 19th National Conference of the Australian Farm Jonathan P. Sher has worked in the areas ol rural education and rural Management Society, Dookie College,1991 development for the past two decades as a researcher, advocate and Nichol. Bill. What is Rural?: 'Rural' and 'Remote', and the Question of program designer/director The recipient of a doctorate in education, Definition, in Rural Welfare Research Bulletin (No.4, Apnl 1990) planning and social policy from Harvard University, Jonathan is the Nothdurft, William E., Strategies and Conditions Needed for the "pnncipal author of two hooks on rural education, as well as dozens of Promotion of Rural Entrepreneurship, in Businesses and firbs in the Rural published reports, articles and commissioned papers. Dr. Sher is the World. Pans. OECD,I 992 Founding Director of REAL Enterpnses a ploneenng effort across the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. RuralPublic United States that prepares and assists rural students (at the secondary and Management, Paris: OECD,1986 TAPE levels) to create their own real jobs by planning. starting. owning and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Partnerships f or operating their own real businesses. Rural Development, Pans OECD,1990 Although most of his professional expenence has been in the United States. Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development, Rural Dr. Sher worked for several years as the head of CERI's rural programs Development Policy and Agncultural Policy Reform, Pans. 01:C1)3991a within the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, New Ways (OECD). For the past nine years. Jonathan also has visited Australia Managing Services in Rural Areas, Pans: OECD,1991b frequently for both persitnal reasons and professional assignments. Most Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Rural recently. he has been a consultant to the Rural Education Research and Development Policy, Group of thc Council on Rural Development, Paris: Development Centre at lames Cook University, as well as a Visiting Fellow OECD,1992a at the Australian National University. Organisation for Economic Co-operauon and Development. Businessesand Jobs in the Rural World, Pans- OECD,1992b Katnna Rowe Sher has many years of expenence as a rural pnmary teacher Parliament of Australia, Come in Cinderella. The Emergence of Adult and and teacher educator. Born and raised in the Adelaide Hills, she has Community Education, Canberra: Senate Standing Committee on worked in several outback communities of South Australia including Employment, Education and 1 raining,1991 two years spent directing a special project (funded by theCommonwealth t'owell, R (Editor), Rural Labour Markets in Australia, Canbena Australian Schools Commission) assisting teachers in Hawker, Leigh Creek, Government Publishing Service,1985 Nepabunna. Marree and Parachilna. Reeve, I. Sustainable Agriculture: Ecological Imperative or Economic lmpossibrhty?, Armidale: Rural Development Centre, University of New Ms. Sher's perspective on rural development also was shaped by her earlier 1-ngland, 1990 expenences as a farm worker, a packer in an abattoir, and aproduction line Salt, 13, Population Movements in Non-Metropolitan Australia, Canberra: employee in a fruit canning factory Au,tralian Government Publishing Service,1992 Katrina earned a bachelor's degree in education from Hinders University of Mier,f' .School-ficised Community Drielopment Corporatums A New Strategy South Australia. as well as a master's degree in education from the jor Education and Development in Rural Amen( a. in Sher. Jonathan P Universtty of North Carolina, chapel 1101 (USA). In addition to continuing (editor), Education in Rural Amenca A Reassessment of Conventional to teach in the United States (at the Duke School forChildren). Katrina has Wisdom, Boulder Westview Press,1978 been an active partner with jonathan in their international consulting firm sher. P Rural Development Worthy of the Name. in U.S Congress. Joint Economic Committee, Nrw Dimensions in Rural Policy, Washington. Rural Education and Development, Inc. I) s.Government Pnnting Office,1986 SherI P . Making Dollars By Making Sense linking Rural Educationand Development in Appalachia. in Proceedings of the lniversity of Kentucky Conference on Appalachia.I exington: University of ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Kentucky.1 987 This article previously appealed in Volume 10, Numher I(Sprtng,

I (editor). Rural Education in Urban Nations Issue, and P 1991) of the journal of Researth tn Rural Educatton, and is reprinted Innovations. Boulder- Wesivrew Press.1 982 here wtth the hind permission of the Journal's editor, Dr rheodore stern. I.Institutional Stnutures to suppon RuralI merpnse. in 01( P. Businesses and fobs in the Rura) World, Pans 01(.1).1992 Coladatet