ABSTRACT
In Australia, rural service provision is a formidable task, not only because of extreme sparsity and dispersion of rural population, but also because of the high expectations of rural dwellers, sustained by a strong policy response towards satisfying these expectations. In interpreting the structure of the Australian space-economy, there are three interrelated seeming paradoxes which in the aggregate have served to maintain a high level of economic prosperity for all Australians, although each may appear to have dysfunctional aspects. Australia has a long tradition of strong governmental intervention in support of rural development. This tradition became entrenched during the 1860s, as the six self-governing colonies vigorously pursued rural development programs designed to populate Australia’s vast empty spaces. High-quality health care is extremely difficult to provide in remote, thinly settled rural Australia, where isolation is an impediment to both consumer and supplier of health services.
