Australian Resource Development and the National Fragmentation Thesis

Abstract

This paper re-examines the proposition, advanced by Stevenson and by Crough/Wheelwright, that shifts in regional economic power resulting from the mineral resources boom have led to a fragmentation of the national economy and exacerbated political tensions in the Australian federal system. The fragmentation thesis is outlined, and criticized, in the light of recent patterns of economic change, economic policy, federalState political and fiscal relations, and questions of the control of benefits stemming from resource development.