Community development: Is it coming back?

Community Development as an area of employment and a strategy for engaging communities has been on relative decline in Australia since the peak in the 1970s under Prime Minister Gough Whitlam. This decline has been due to the shift in politics where neoliberal thinking has become increasingly dominant. Consumer choice, evidence-based practice and competitive tendering of services have favoured measurable work with individuals and families. My arguments in this article is that we need to restore some balance and add a focus on communities to address issues such as isolation, marginalisation, hopelessness and to aim to promote hope, wellbeing and care for our environment. I also argue that traditional societies have a lot to teach us on the importance of the collective identity that is under serious attack from the neoliberal hegemony