Law and Management

Centre for Sustainable Regional Communities

2nd National Conference on the Future of Australia's Country Towns

11, 12 & 13 July 2005
Bendigo - Australia

The conference was again, an opportunity to re-affirm the identity of Australia's Country Towns, to reflect on the achievements and emerging challenges over the past 4 years, and to continue to build on the strengths of Australia’s rural communities.

Much has been done to reinvigorate communities, build people's capacity to act, and raise awareness of the value of Country Towns to the social, cultural, environmental, economic and national identity of Australia. The conference aimed to:

• highlight the progress made
• explore the ongoing and newly emerging issues
• identify ways of measuring and evaluating progress, and
• highlight the links between social, economic, cultural and environmental development in the creation of a sustainable future for Australia’s Country Towns.

The importance of government policy to the effective development of our rural communities cannot be overlooked. The conference explored the impact of government policies on our ability to not only survive – BUT TO THRIVE.

Major Themes

• Economic diversity and the changing nature of rural communities.
• Population trends and the implications for infrastructure, social and economic development, and land and water.
• Climate Change and its implications and opportunities for rural Australia.
• Community processes which foster greater community engagement and participation.
• The Creative Community and its innovative edge.
• The policy overlay – how does it support the sustainable development of country towns