Thesis/Dissertation Sheet Surname/Family Name : Brann Given Name/s : James Anthony Abbreviation for degree as give in the University calendar : Ph.D Faculty : UNSW Canberra School : School of Humanities and Social Sciences What’s in the Public Interest? Identifying the relative importance of ideas, materialism Thesis Title : and vested interests in the rural debate over competition reform. Abstract Australian rural communities have undergone steady socio-economic decline over the past forty years. Once the economic engine of the nation's growth, rural communities are now experiencing falling incomes, sustained population decline, service constraints and a lack of employment opportunities. This phenomenon commenced with the economic stagnation of the 1970s, and was radically accelerated through the adoption of neoliberal reforms through the 1980s and 1990s. This thesis seeks to understand how the neoliberal reforms that harmed these communities so much came to be implemented. The iconic policy of the neoliberal economic reforms, the National Competition Policy, was a swathe of reforms that sought to deregulate rural communities on free-market principles. Amongst these reforms, the application of competitive neutrality of local government services became the lightning rod that embodied both the free-market ethos of the reforms, and rural communities' resistance to them. All of the reforms were presented as pragmatic policy measures that were only to be implemented if they were in the public interest. This thesis examines the events leading up to and around the public inquiries into competition reform with a view to examining how the policy came to be accepted as being in the public interest. The thesis finds that the application of competition reforms was not a pragmatic and procedural tool, as claimed, and that its adoption was underpinned by an ideological discourse. Furthermore, it examines the role of material events, interests and ideas in the political success of that discourse. It finds that an “actually existing” form of neoliberal ideology acted as a coordinating mechanism that enabled a number of disparate but powerful interests to be mobilised to support a shared agenda that ultimately triumphed over rural concerns about the impact the reforms would have on their communities. Declaration relating to disposition of project thesis/dissertation I hereby grant to the University of New South Wales or its agents a non-exclusive licence to archive and to make available (including to members of the public) my thesis or dissertation in whole or in part in the University libraries in all forms of media, now or here after known. I acknowledge that I retain all intellectual property rights which subsist in my thesis or dissertation, such as copyright and patent rights, subject to applicable law. I also retain the right to use all or part of my thesis or dissertation in future works (such as articles or books). …………………………………………………………… ……….……………………...…….… Signature Date The University recognises that there may be exceptional circumstances requiring restrictions on copying or conditions on use. Requests for restriction for a period of up to 2 years can be made when submitting the final copies of your thesis to the UNSW Library. Requests for a longer period of restriction may be considered in exceptional circumstances and require the approval of the Dean of Graduate Research. ORIGINALITY STATEMENT ‘I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and to the best of my knowledge it contains no materials previously published or written by another person, or substantial proportions of material which have been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma at UNSW or any other educational institution, except where due acknowledgement is made in the thesis. Any contribution made to the research by others, with whom I have worked at UNSW or elsewhere, is explicitly acknowledged in the thesis. I also declare that the intellectual content of this thesis is the product of my own work, except to the extent that assistance from others in the project's design and conception or in style, presentation and linguistic expression is acknowledged.’ Signed …………………………………………….............. Date …………………………………………….............. 2 COPYRIGHT STATEMENT ‘I hereby grant the University of New South Wales or its agents a non-exclusive licence to archive and to make available (including to members of the public) my thesis or dissertation in whole or part in the University libraries in all forms of media, now or here after known. I acknowledge that I retain all intellectual property rights which subsist in my thesis or dissertation, such as copyright and patent rights, subject to applicable law. I also retain the right to use all or part of my thesis or dissertation in future works (such as articles or books).’ ‘For any substantial portions of copyright material used in this thesis, written permission for use has been obtained, or the copyright material is removed from the final public version of the thesis.’ Signed ……………………………………………........................... Date …………………………………….............................. AUTHENTICITY STATEMENT ‘I certify that the Library deposit digital copy is a direct equivalent of the final officially approved version of my thesis.’ Signed ……………………………………………........................... Date ………............................. 3 UNSW is supportive of candidates publishing their research results during their candidature as detailed in the UNSW Thesis Examination Procedure. Publications can be used in their thesis in lieu of a Chapter if: • The candidate contributed greater than 50% of the content in the publication and is the “primary author”, ie. the candidate was responsible primarily for the planning, execution and preparation of the work for publication • The candidate has approval to include the publication in their thesis in lieu of a Chapter from their supervisor and Postgraduate Coordinator. • The publication is not subject to any obligations or contractual agreements with a third party that would constrain its inclusion in the thesis Please indicate whether this thesis contains published material or not: This thesis contains no publications, either published or submitted for publication ☒ Some of the work described in this thesis has been published and it has been documented in the relevant Chapters with acknowledgement ☐ This thesis has publications (either published or submitted for publication) ☐ incorporated into it in lieu of a chapter and the details are presented below CANDIDATE’S DECLARATION I declare that: • I have complied with the UNSW Thesis Examination Procedure • where I have used a publication in lieu of a Chapter, the listed publication(s) below meet(s) the requirements to be included in the thesis. Candidate’s Name Signature Date 4 What’s in the Public Interest? Identifying the relative importance of ideas, materialism and vested interests in the rural debate over competition reform. James Brann A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. University of New South Wales. September 14th, 2020 5 Declaration I certify that this work contains no material which has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma in my name, in any university or other tertiary institution and, to the best of my knowledge and belief, contains no material previously published or written by another person, except where due reference has been made in the text. In addition, I certify that no part of this work will, in the future, be used in a submission in my name, for any other degree or diploma in any university or other tertiary institution without the prior approval of the University of New South Wales and where applicable, any partner institution responsible for the joint- award of this degree. I acknowledge that the copyright of published work contained within this thesis resides with the copyright holder(s) of those works. I also give permission for the digital version of my thesis to be made available on the web, via the University’s digital research repository, the Library Search and also through web search engines, unless permission has been granted by the University to restrict access for a period of time. I acknowledge the support I have received for my research through the provision of an Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship. 6 Abstract Australian rural communities have undergone steady socio-economic decline over the past forty years. Once the economic engine of the nation's growth, rural communities are now experiencing falling incomes, sustained population decline, service constraints and a lack of employment opportunities. This phenomenon commenced with the economic stagnation of the 1970s, and was radically accelerated through the adoption of neoliberal reforms through the 1980s and 1990s. This thesis seeks to understand how the neoliberal reforms that harmed these communities so much came to be implemented. The iconic policy of the neoliberal economic reforms, the National Competition Policy, was a swathe of reforms that sought to deregulate rural communities on free-market principles. Amongst these reforms, the application of competitive neutrality of local government services became the lightning rod that embodied both the free-market ethos of the reforms, and rural communities' resistance to them. All of the reforms were presented as pragmatic policy measures that were only to be implemented if they were in the public interest.