Note from the editors.

Hefferan, Mike ; Wilson, Bruce ; Collits, Paul 等

There has been a 'changing of the guard' at this journal. After years of valuable service, the previous editors, Professor Tony Sorensen, and Dr Sonya Glavac have handed over editorial responsibilities to a new team. On behalf of the Australian New Zealand Regional Science Association International, we thank both Professor Sorensen and Dr Glavac for their excellent service in maintaining and advancing the Journal over those years.

To support the Journal into the future, a four-person team has been appointed as editors. They are: Professor Mike Hefferan, Adjunct Professor Paul Collits, Dr Wayne Graham and Professor Bruce Wilson. Each brings their own level of expertise, experience and networks to the editorial position. In a rapidly changing research and publishing environment, there is critical need to both maintain the key objectives and quality of the Journal but, at the same time, allowing it to evolve into the future to meet the needs of our various stakeholders.

The journal needs to maintain a healthy balance of qualitative and quantitative analysis and to have a positive impact on policy settings, education and the practice of regional science. Research presented will continue to be set within the Australasian context but this certainly does not preclude research drawn from further afield, particularly where it bears relevance to regional science here. (Several papers in this edition are of that type.)

The Journal needs to not only reflect these objectives but also, where possible, link with ANZRSAI's annual conference and we will be actively seeking to advance those links into the future, including in future editions, papers emanating from the excellent January 2015 Christchurch conference which particularly examines disaster recovery in that city and more widely.

Papers in this edition provide, as usual, a cross section of relevant and topical research, reflecting the diversity involved in regional science. Grant and Ors present an important comparison between the Australian wine industry and that of other major producer countries emphasising the importance of niche positioning to success. In a social context, Miranti and Ors establish parameters of social exclusion for children linked to the level of economic activities and regional prosperity of individual regions. In their paper, Pearce and Ors draw an interesting comparison between climate change and economic viability of pastoral lands on one hand and the mental health of aboriginal pastoralists on the other. Rao and Ors present analytical paper establishing a framework relating to the Murray Darling Basin which should also be suitable for quite wider social economic and distributional effects of regional policy elsewhere. Two papers particularly introduce an international perspective. Vu and Ors investigate the economic disparities of the provinces in Vietnam, linking this to central planning and regional financial arrangements; Davaakhuu and Ors investigate the economic development of Mongolia emphasising particularly the proximity to China and the need for sound planning for investment and infrastructure as key components to future success.

To continue links with the ANZRSAI conference, please be advised the 2015 conference is to be held in Sydney in December. Further details are available on the Association website. (www. anzrsai.org)

Editors

Professor Mike Hefferan

Professor Bruce Wilson

Adjunct Professor Paul Collits

Dr Wayne Graham