Facilitating rural community sustainability? Local organisational networks and the governance of space
Jo Baraket
University of Melbourne
Contact Email:   barraketunimelb.edu.au

Over the past thirty years, the impacts of economic, political, and social restructuring on Australia’s rural communities have drawn the attention of policy makers, practitioners and the academic community alike. While government has historically taken a top down regional approach to rural development, there is now an increasing emphasis on the role of local actors in responding to so-called local issues. At state government level, the discourse of community sustainability – which emphasizes the interdependence of social, economic and environmental issues within specific locales– has become increasingly popular. This renewed focus on place based approaches which emphasise community self-reliance may be viewed as part of a broader shift in the policy environment, away from centralized bureaucracy and towards ‘networked’, ‘joined-up’ and ‘integrated’ governance.

This paper outlines the findings of exploratory case study research in two rural communities in NSW. The objectives of this work were to explore the nature and role of networks between community-based organizations in facilitating community sustainability, and their implications for current policy approaches. The findings illuminate some of the possibilities and problems of place oriented policies to rural renewal, and suggest the need for a reconceptualisation of the sustainable community development model.

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