Beyond the Conventional Wisdom: Rural Development As If Australia's Rural People Really Mattered

DOCUMENT RESUME ED 390 593 RC 020 377 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 U S DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION -PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS OtTw.e of E OuCattOnel Reeea,ch nd IlnonNement MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTEDBY EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERICI D McSwan dTh.s dOCurnent hes been reprodoced as ,ece.exl horn the oefson vpanuaPort cvnat,ng .1 M,not changes nape beet, Tned tO .mOtott ,eotoductIon owality Po(nts 01 veev, 01 opirnons staled .n In.s dot TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES ment 00 nol necesSlinly represent ,,,thoel OE R, oos.I.or oocy INFORMATION CENTER (ERICI BEST COPY AVAILABLE 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?

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