Australian Politics and Policy - Senior, 2019a

Australian Politics and Policy
political continuity. The RDA committees were no different, although under Rudd
the budget allocation was reduced and the community members working on the
committees providing overarching governance were unpaid. The rhetoric of support
for regional Australia was familiar, but the electorate was disgruntled, and
the 2010 election returned a hung parliament. The ALP finally formed government
after three independent, rural-based politicians gave their support in return for
generous concessions to regional Australia.
Royalties for Regions
The Rudd and Gillard governments were not the only governments responding
to voter backlash. As van Staden and Haslam McKenzie observe, ‘under the right
conditions, compounding socio-political and economic change can dramatically
alter government policy’. 45 The intensity of the mining boom in WA and the illpreparedness
of the state and communities for its social and economic impacts
caused considerable criticism to be directed at the ALP state government. In the
2008 state election, neither of the major parties won a majority, and the National
Party, a then minor party traditionally representing the non-metropolitan constituency,
became kingmaker in order to avoid a hung parliament
The National Party’s powerbrokers negotiated the implementation of the
Royalties for Regions program in a last-minute deal with the WA Liberal Party.
This was a significant departure from a non-interventionist, neoliberal and ‘new
paradigm’ policy agenda. The Royalties for Regions program allocated a further
25 per cent of the state’s resources royalty income to non-metropolitan regions,
over and above existing regional allocations. It transformed regional development
into a billion dollar effort, dwarfing previous government investment since the
1960s. 46 While more $1 billion was allocated to upgrading facilities, infrastructure
and planning capacity in the Pilbara, the Royalties for Regions largesse was spread
throughout rural, regional and remote communities in WA.
Importantly, the National Party, in its negotiations with the Liberal Party after
the 2008 election, chose not to formalise a ‘coalition’, but rather argued that it was
an ‘alliance’, 47 putting the Liberal Party on notice that the support of the National
Party could not be assured unless rural, regional and remote communities were
adequatelylookedafter.
In 2017, the ALP won government again in WA, and while the Royalties for
Regions program has not been revoked, investment in rural, regional and remote
WA has been significantly pared back and the National Party’s parliamentary
influence has significantly reduced.
45 van Staden and Haslam McKenzie 2019b, 1.
46 van Staden and Haslam McKenzie 2019b.
47 Phillimore and McMahon, 2015.
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