Reader's comment: Rural social work and social welfare in the Australian context: A rejoinder to munn

Abstract

The main theme of this rejoinder is that although we are clearly still in relatively early stages of knowledge development, we have accumulated some good ideas, some documented practice experience, some agreement about some fundamental principles, and a little knowledge about rural welfare in Australia. Munn has done us a service in identifying and opening debate about some of the central dilemmas, confusions and knowledge gaps which were inevitably glossed over in my initial paper. This rejoinder makes further comment on some of these. It is suggested that the next phase of the development of knowledge about Australian rural welfare will involve practitioners, researchers and scholars collectively exploring the details of and attempting some resolution of these and other key issues.