Neoliberalism and changing regional policy in Australia

This paper examines the role of neoliberalism in shaping Australian federal regional development policy over the past three decades. As in other parts of the world, since the 1980s Australian federal governments have tended to favour the role of market forces, as opposed to direct intervention in r...

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Main Authors: McKenzie, Fiona Haslam, Tonts, M.
Format: Journal Article
Published: Routledge 2005
Subjects:
Online Access:http://journalsonline.tandf.co.uk/openurl.asp?genre=article&id=doi:10.1080/13563470500378861
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/34039
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author McKenzie, Fiona Haslam
Tonts, M.
author_facet McKenzie, Fiona Haslam
Tonts, M.
author_sort McKenzie, Fiona Haslam
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description This paper examines the role of neoliberalism in shaping Australian federal regional development policy over the past three decades. As in other parts of the world, since the 1980s Australian federal governments have tended to favour the role of market forces, as opposed to direct intervention in regional development. By the 1990s, however, the negative social and economic impacts of neoliberal approaches, together with a widespread electoral backlash, contributed to an adjustment in the direction of regional development policy. We argue that this transition is reflective of a wider shift in neoliberal politics, whereby limited government intervention and institution building are increasingly seen as appropriate policy responses. While in part this is linked to the shortcomings of previous policy approaches, it is also apparent that political opportunism is an important element of this shift.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-340392019-02-19T04:27:57Z Neoliberalism and changing regional policy in Australia McKenzie, Fiona Haslam Tonts, M. government policy neoliberalism regional development This paper examines the role of neoliberalism in shaping Australian federal regional development policy over the past three decades. As in other parts of the world, since the 1980s Australian federal governments have tended to favour the role of market forces, as opposed to direct intervention in regional development. By the 1990s, however, the negative social and economic impacts of neoliberal approaches, together with a widespread electoral backlash, contributed to an adjustment in the direction of regional development policy. We argue that this transition is reflective of a wider shift in neoliberal politics, whereby limited government intervention and institution building are increasingly seen as appropriate policy responses. While in part this is linked to the shortcomings of previous policy approaches, it is also apparent that political opportunism is an important element of this shift. 2005 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/34039 http://journalsonline.tandf.co.uk/openurl.asp?genre=article&id=doi:10.1080/13563470500378861 Routledge fulltext
spellingShingle government policy
neoliberalism
regional development
McKenzie, Fiona Haslam
Tonts, M.
Neoliberalism and changing regional policy in Australia
title Neoliberalism and changing regional policy in Australia
title_full Neoliberalism and changing regional policy in Australia
title_fullStr Neoliberalism and changing regional policy in Australia
title_full_unstemmed Neoliberalism and changing regional policy in Australia
title_short Neoliberalism and changing regional policy in Australia
title_sort neoliberalism and changing regional policy in australia
topic government policy
neoliberalism
regional development
url http://journalsonline.tandf.co.uk/openurl.asp?genre=article&id=doi:10.1080/13563470500378861
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/34039