The haves and have nots in Australia’s Tropical North – New Perspectives on a Persisting Problem ANDREW TAYLOR 1 *, SILVA LARSON 2 , NATALIE STOECKL 3 and DEAN CARSON 1 1 School for Social and Policy Research, Charles Darwin University, Ellengowan Drive, Darwin, NT 0909. 2 CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems, Davies Laboratory, University Drive, Townsville, QLD 4814. 3 School of Business, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD 4811. *Corresponding author. Email: andrew.taylor@cdu.edu.au Abstract There is significant confluence in the literature that leads one to expect groups of haves and groups of have nots in socio-economic systems within common spatial contexts. Several economic theories suggest economic activity to be concentrated in a few core areas with geographically large ‘peripheries’ relying on one or two industries for employment and income. In the context of the north of Australia, issues of disparities in socio-economic status between the region and elsewhere in Australia, and also within the region have been highlighted in the literature for some time. This paper discusses the contemporary situation using customised data collected and analysed for 55 river-basin catchments in the Tropical Rivers region of northern Australia to highlight the extent of the haves and have nots problem. A range of spatial economic theories are discussed as theoretical bases for the present day situation and as pointers to revisionist approaches which may address it. Transforming the have nots to improved states of well-being will be a costly and difficult process. Consequently, we argue that factors other than raw incomes and economic production should be reconsidered and re-prioritised by govern- ments as redress to the ongoing ‘problem’ of the North. KEY WORDS Northern Australia; Tropical Rivers; Core-periphery; Remote economic systems; Sub-optimal development states; Indigenous economic development Introduction Recent severe droughts across wide areas of southern Australia have reinvigorated debates about the development potential of the north of Australia and particularly its potential contribu- tion to meeting the challenges of population growth and development (for example, Quiggin, 2006; Jackson et al., 2008). Several large- scale proposals have been proposed for water especially, including the transportation of per- ceived ‘plentiful’ water from the north to the south (for example, Powell, 2000; ABC, 2006a; 2007) and the mass relocation of populations from the south to the north (ABC, 2006b; Alexander, 2009). The contemporary discourse overlays ongoing scholarly foci on northern Australian develop- ment. Holmes (1996), for example, highlighted the role of natural resource extraction in the north for national economic wealth which has led to accrued rents outside of the region (Schedvin, 1990). This type of development is consistent with global trends citing the evolution of ‘bifurcated societies’ (cf. Gray and Lawrence, 2001) where development becomes increasingly focused on cities while rural populations struggle 13 Geographical Research • February 2011 • 49(1):13–22 doi: 10.1111/j.1745-5871.2010.00648.x