Analysis of urban problems and policies cannot be confined to the big Australian cities, but needs to consider their relationship to the rest of this continent. Regional development presents itself as one possible route for ameliorating the problems of big-city growth and for promoting a more balanced and satisfactory settlement pattern for Australia as a whole. This chapter explores this possibility.

Initially certain objections must be confronted. First, it is often said that regional development and urban dispersal policies have been tried and have failed. Secondly, and more particularly, it will be claimed that there are neither the necessary resources nor the political will to push policies of this kind in the likely economic climate of the 1990s. Regional development as a prescription for urban problems is unfashionable in political circles, except among the enthusiasts for the development of particular towns or regions. The prevailing doctrine of market-led growth appears to rule out any striking public initiatives.

The Federal government views regional issues primarily in terms of encouraging economic restructuring and public service economy, and has confined its positive interventions to the advocacy of urban consolidation in the big cities through its ‘better cities’ projects and in other ways. State governments are less active in promoting regional development than was once the case, although with some exceptions.