The key Australian Government policy response to the rising tide of concern in country Australia has been the development of a policy of localism. Australian localism seeks to diversify rural and regional economies away from agriculture in order to drive 'growth, liveability and sustainability

Investigate the aspirations of people living in rural and regional Australia in terms of their future and how these can be envisaged 2. To show how improvements can be made to decision making processes that affect rural areas
Interviews with people in the Murrumbidgee
Irrigation Area and Australian Capital Region

Regional Policy in Australia, Core questions of regional development,What is wrong with regional policy in Australia, Principles for sustaining regional communities

*Shift length is an important determinant of incentives for FIFO and DIDO. *Workforce location patterns may be path dependent. *A life cycle hypothesis suggests that preferences to live locally may vary through a working career. * Mobile workforce are active agents in determining employment arrangements, mining families are resilient and aware of the tradeoffs. * Mobile workforce= LDC, FIFO, DIDO, are common place and should be planned for. * Integrated research will give a stronger evidence base for decision making than competing claims based on vested interests.

Modelling risks from mining

Project capitalisation by crowdfunding

FIREFOXES Australia is a grassroots community group that emerged in the Kinglake Ranges in 2009, following the Black Saturday bushfires. - Conference Poster 2013