摘要：Various elements of rural policy have recently been or are currently the subject of review, including drought, adjustment, taxation and farm welfare policy. These long-standing forms of assistance to the rural sector, particularly the National Drought Policy, the Rural Adjustment Scheme and taxation concessions, have traditionally had more to do with political imperatives than market failure considerations. Given recent endorsement by Commonwealth, State and Territory Governments of Competition Policy and the increased potential for the newly elected Commonwealth Government to introduce policy reform, a unique opportunity now presents itself to redefine the respective responsibilities of industry and government in areas such as drought and adjustment policy. In this paper, rural adjustment and farm welfare policy in Australia is reviewed briefly and a role of government framework is developed and used to assess the appropriateness of selected elements of the current approach.
