Land of discontent: the dynamics of change in rural and regional Australia

This book explores the dynamics of change in contemporary rural and regional Australia. Each of the book's ten thematic chapters highlights and critiques a particular debate associated with recent discourse on the futures of rural and regional Australia. Chapters include an Introduction by Phil McManus and Bill Pritchard; The myths of modern agriculture: Australian rural production in the 21st century by Geoffrey Lawrence and Ian Gray; Negotiating the two-edged sword of agricultural trade liberalisation: trade policy and its protectionist discontents by Bill Pritchard; Environmental and Aboriginal issues: the emergence of new tensions in rural and regional politics by Phil McManus and Glenn Albrecht; Lopping the branches: bank branch closure and rural Australian communities by Neil Argent and Fran Rolley; The challenges for local government in the 21st century by Maurice Daly; and Concluding thoughts by Phil McManus and Bill Pritchard. The remaining chapters have been individually indexed: Crisis and conflict: shifting discourses of rural and regional Australia by Stewart Lockie; The restructuring of Australia's rural communities by Matthew Tonts; Where do people fit in the rural equation? by Fiona Haslam McKenzie; The management of government and its consequences for service delivery in regional Australia by Rolf Gerritsen; and, Regional policy and development in Australia: running out of solutions? by Andrew Beer.