In the considerable increase in interest in non-metropolitan Australia in recent years the focus of attention has been on the economic and environmental sustainability of the areas outside of the nations major cities.
In the considerable increase in interest in non-metropolitan Australia in recent years the focus of attention has been on the economic and environmental sustainability of the areas outside of the nations major cities. There has not been an equivalent amount of attention paid to the most important issue of these areas – the 36 percent of the Australian people that live outside the capital cities. While primary industry is important in non-metropolitan Australia the economic and social structure is becoming increasingly varied. Nevertheless there are widespread stereotypes of non-metropolitan communities that do not recognize the diversity of those communities.
At the Academy’s session at the ABARE conference – Rural Communities: is the social fabric of rural communities intact or in tatters? – the focuses was accordingly on the social sustainability of non-metropolitan Australia. It sought to explode some of the myths about these areas and to draw on a range of social science research to clarify some of the major issues which confront the people of non-metropolitan Australia.
Included in the Workshop report are:
- Associate Professor Margaret Alston. Inland Rural Towns: Are they sustainable?
- Professor Graeme Hugo. Regional Australian Populations: Diversity,dynamism and dichotomy
- Lisa Chapman and Jared Greenville. Profiling rural Australia: Impact of changes in the agriculture sector on rural towns