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Opportunity Lost? Victorian Labor's Enactment of Community Development 1999–2006
Author(s) -
Nabben Robert
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
australian journal of public administration
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.524
H-Index - 41
eISSN - 1467-8500
pISSN - 0313-6647
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-8500.2011.00736.x
Subject(s) - restructuring , rhetoric , government (linguistics) , politics , power (physics) , inequality , political economy , community development , political science , community organizing , public administration , economic growth , sociology , economics , law , mathematical analysis , philosophy , linguistics , physics , mathematics , quantum mechanics
The idea of community development has been evoked by Australian governments over many decades. The expressions of community have differed widely, often as a result of politics rather than informed policy. In 1999, after seven years of radical neo‐liberal restructuring in Victoria, the Bracks government found itself unexpectedly elected to power. They faced new challenges such as a diminished public sector, growing social inequality and climate change. The first two terms of Victorian Labor were a seminal period in terms of the role they would invoke for ‘community’. Did grass roots participation take a central place, or did rhetoric rule over substance? The evidence points to a government maintaining a neo‐liberal trajectory, and thereby losing an opportunity to enable an active citizenry.