Australian Politics and Policy - Senior, 2019a

Australian Politics and Policy
Queensland state election. 34 The party’s success was generally attributed to its
appeal to rural voters, who were increasingly disillusioned with the major parties
and felt their lifestyles were under threat. 35 The Commonwealth responded with
attempts to soften the non-interventionist policy direction, but once again there
was limited time and investment, resulting in policy fragmentation, 36 and the
electorate was not convinced.
The resources boom
From 2001 onwards, Australia experienced a decade of outstanding growth and
prosperity, principally on the back of a resources boom, fuelled by almost insatiable
demand from China for resources, including coal, iron-ore, energy and agricultural
products. Many did not see this boom period coming and many rural, regional and
remote communities were unprepared, especially those at the centre of the mining
boom, in regions such as the Pilbara in WA and the Surat and Bowen basins in
Queensland. This boom period continued unabated for more than a decade, despite
the GFC (2007–09) dragging down the major global economies.
The boom had broad impacts across all of Australia, with many people and
communities, especially in the cities, where most long-distance commuting miners
resided and businesses and mining service providers were located, enjoying the
benefits. The outcomes for people living in rural, regional and remote communities
were mixed. For those communities close to mining activities, the impacts were
not always beneficial, with intense demand for housing, infrastructure, services
and labour driving up prices and displacing many who could not compete with
the wealthy mining companies. Furthermore, the decades-long neglect of regional
services and infrastructure impeded responsive development, 37 causing housing
shortages and inadequate utility services.
The outcomes of the boom are a classic example of uneven growth and the twospeed
economy. Regional Queensland and WA bore the consequences of the boom
conditions; the former due to its large coal mining operations and the emerging
coal seam gas industry, and the latter principally due to its huge and rich iron-ore
resources, but also its offshore oil and gas reserves. In the Pilbara, at the height of
the boom, the overall cost of living was 37 per cent higher 38 than that in Perth.
While the majority of Australia’s rich mining resources tend to be in remote
locations, some are located where agriculture is also well established and highly
productive – for example, the Darling Downs in Queensland, the Hunter Valley in
New South Wales and the Peel region in WA. Land use conflict, access to land and
water resources and pressure on services caused considerable antagonism between
34 McManus and Pritchard 2000.
35 Tonts and Haslam McKenzie 2005.
36 Beer 2007.
37 Haslam McKenzie and Rowley 2013; Lawrie, Tonts and Plummer 2011.
38 Department of Regional Development and Lands 2011.
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