ABSTRACT
In line with trends in other OECD countries, neo-liberal notions of self-reliant communities in partnership with a minimalist state were firmly entrenched in regional2 policy in Australia during the 1990s, resulting in widespread application of market principles as well as cuts in public expenditure and social services (Gleeson and Low 2000; Gray and Lawrence 2001; MacEwan 1999; Osborne and Gaebler 1992; Pusey 1991). By the mid-1990s, there was growing disquiet in Australia’s regions about some of the negative effects of such policies. These included rivalry and competition between communities; fragmentation and lack of co-ordination; and disenchantment with the system of representative democracy. One manifestation of a desire to mitigate such ‘effects of excessive localism’ (Fung and Wright 2003: 21) in the State3
of Queensland was the development of regional plans for the future development of a number of areas of the State.
