Exploring the social outcomes of the government-regional governance nexus in resources: a case study of Moranbah, Queensland

Australian regional resource areas have been battling a range of social problems such as housing crises, a lack of social services, male behavioural issues, relationship and marital problems, as well as a shortage of employees in the non-resources industries. These issues can be construed to be indicators of non-sustainable social outcomes. A socially sustainable community is deemed to be a capable, resilient community that maintains and builds on its own resources, and prevents and addresses problems now and in the future, as opposed to one that is dependent on social welfare. The role of the nexus between government and governance in the determination of social outcomes is largely unclear, especially in regional resource communities in Australia. This gap in the knowledge can be attributed to the lack of research on social sustainability, regional development, and the government-governance nexus. The aim of the research is to determine what the social outcomes of this nexus are in the case study town of Moranbah, Queensland. A pilot study was conducted in 2011 on the perceived outcomes of a government intervention in Moranbah, revealing the need for further research. This qualitative PhD study builds on the issues identified during the pilot study. It focuses on the government-governance nexus, and provides a wider and more in-depth investigation of the social outcomes reported and observed by role players in the case study town. Social sustainability, regional development and regional governance discourses informed this study. Two theories of the French Humanist-Marxist philosopher, Henri Lefebvre, served as the philosophical underpinning of this study, namely The Social Production of Space and The State Mode of Production. The main findings reveal adversarial relationships in the government-governance nexus, resulting in distrust in politics and power, an absence of governance forms in the case study town, as well as a history of state intervention for which the work of Lefebvre offers a plausible explanation. The research is significant due to its contribution to knowledge on government-governance, regional development, and social sustainability, as well as its practical application of the work of Lefebvre.