Rural policy-making came under increasing pressure during 1990 and 1991 as a rural downturn rivalling the 1982-83 drought eroded farm incomes. International trade reform was stalled, the government procrastinated during the wool crisis and continued to be tardy in delivering the benefits of...

This article describes the federal government's rural policy activities during 1986. It emphasizes the interactions between rural and other policy areas and the prevailing influence of "politics". The Labor Government's rural policy-making in 1986 was preoccupied with the ramifications of the...

This article describes the Commonwealth Government's rural policy activities over 1987. In that year, policy was shaped by three interrelated factors: the uneven but marked recovery of commodity prices and the associated diminution of the urgency and political intensity of the "rural crisis";...

1988 and 1989 saw a strong continuation of the 1987 rural recovery. Australia's emphasis on international agricultural trade reform also dominated domestic policy, which was concerned with complementary microeconomic efficiency reforms. The most significant developments in this vein were the...