3The role of agrarian sentiment in Australian rural policy

Botterill Politics has famously been described as the ‘authoritative allocation of values’ and the political science literature has discussed the mechanisms through which different values are represented in the policy process. Much of this research has focused on explicitly stated values that can be identified as competing interests in the community. This chapter discusses the existence of an apparently pervasive value in Australian agricultural policy development, which is rarely articulated and is not represented by an identifiable interest group or ‘watchdog’. The value is agrarianism. Agrarian imagery and appeals to national identity are frequently used to explain rural policy decisions. This is ironic, given that in recent years rural policy in Australia has been dominated by neo-liberal economics with an emphasis on structural adjustment, productivity improvement and deregulation—goals that are apparently at odds with agrarian values. This chapter will explore the influence of agrarianism in Australia, including its limiting impact on the level of policy debate and its role in sustaining the National Party as a force in Australian politics