The nation-building state retreats: An Australian case study in the changing role of the state

Abstract

The relationship between the state and the market has undergone significant change in many nations over the last half-century and Australia is an instructive example of this change, with neoliberal economic reforms governing much of Australia's recent economic development. Nation-building policies after World War II included the provision of land settlement options for returned servicemen. A detailed case study of one of these settlements, that of Goolhi in New South Wales, Australia provides a telling account of the lived experience of the effects of neoliberal economic reform in Australia within the agricultural sector, and more specifically of the deregulation of the Australian Wheat Board. Whilst having been established as a direct result of nation-building policies, the community at Goolhi was effectively dismantled through the deep restructure of the sector brought about through the state's intensifying neoliberal stance. This research demonstrates both the sociological and subjective effects of the experience of the changing role of the state, particularly the experience of new burdens in a ‘free’ market. This small-scale and in-depth study provides a detailed empirical case study of a community that sits at the intersection of outcomes of deeply changed policy orientations.