About CARE and the CARE Team

CARE is a private organisation which provides consultancy and research services in area of regional, resource and business economics.

We are an alliance of three individuals who share a common focus and interest in the development of rural Australia. This alliance brings a diverse range of skills and experience to bear on particular project

Key areas of expertise:

  • Compilation of state and regional input-output tables for NSW;
  • Regional economic analysis, including the socio-economic analysis of regional economies, developing views about the future, regional economic strategy development and economic impact assessment;
  • Industry strategy and development planning in a value-chain structure;
  • Whole farm business and risk analysis including business taxation modelling;
  • Infrastructure development planning;
  • Rural business financial and risk analysis including the integration of the biological and economic aspects of farming systems and farm forestry; and
  • Training programs in regional development, farm and business management and analytical methods.

The CARE Team:

Dr Roy Powell - Executive Chairman, B. Commerce (Hons), Melbourne 1965, Dip. Ed., Melbourne 1966, Ph.D., University of New England (1976):

A leading professional in the field of regional development and the use of input-output methods in Australia, past Chairman of the New England-North West Region Development Board, involved in the preparation of regional input-output tables for many regions in Australia and an innovator in their application to regional problems including infrastructure planning and impacts, linkage to transport analysis, structural change, special events (e.g drought and price changes), in preparing regional development strategies and monitoring development change in regional economies.

David Thompson - Principal, B. Rural Science (Hons) University of New England 1987, Masters of Economics, University of New England 1989.

David Thompson has been responsible for developing analytical software tools for assessing the impacts of risk and management decisions on rural business performance. In addition, he has worked in the areas of opportunities development and feasibility studies in agriculture and performs a project management role for CARE. More recently, he has been involved in financial modelling for non-farm businesses and is developing whole-farm models to explore the feasibility of farm forestry options. He is also currently involved in building detailed taxation models for farm businesses and bioeconomic models to assess rabbit control options. He also runs a part-time business in the tourism industry.

Linden Chalmers - B. Ag. Economics, University of New England 1988, Masters of Economics, University of New England, 1994.

For the past 10 years, Linden has worked closely with Roy Powell on the development of a range of regional input-output tables for Australia and on the application of those tables. The work has involved the development of input-output models for various regions and years (a list is available), and the analysis of the economic impact of various industries, policy changes, other changes eg. drought, on regional economies. These tables have also been used to analyse regional economic structure and change. This analysis of structure and change has been applied to a wide variety of industries and has focused on numerous regions.