NOW that the hysteria surrounding the change of leadership in the federal government has settled, we can review some of the issues crucial to regional and rural Australia.
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The two likely candidates for the prime minister’s job after the next election are both from the metropolis.
Neither has any proven interest in, or understanding about, life in the regions. At least Tony Abbott “roughed it” out in the bush for a few weeks at a time. And he had a good relationship with the Nationals.
Neither Metro-Mal nor Union Bill have shown similar interest.
This is an important distinction.
Turnbull’s viewpoint has been located in a tiny electorate you can walk around in a day. It is the smallest geographical division in Australia, some 29sq/km, demographically designated “inner metropolitan”.
Shorten’s electorate, Maribyrnong, is 73sq/km, also demographically designated “inner metropolitan”.
In comparison, New England is 59,344sq/km. We can look further to emphasise the problems: Parkes (NSW) 256,643sq/km; Kennedy (Qld) 568,993sq/kms; and Lingiari (NT) 1,352,371sq/km.
Representatives who can walk or drive around their electorates in a day have a very different view about crucial issues in the rest of Australia.
Even in New England you can walk many kilometres without even seeing another elector. In the metropolitan areas you have to work to stop yourself falling over thousands of them.
The Nationals can explain realities in the regions to their Coalition partners, if they will listen.
The ALP has no effective voices in the bush.
Given Australia’s uncontrolled immigration into the big cities, many of the people have no experience of Australia’s history or of its regional vastness.
The divide between the city electors and the regional electors will only grow and deepen.
There are no policies in place, or forward planning, to reverse this developing disaster in social attitudes.
We are seeing this in just about every significant social attitude.
Regional media is being truncated. Local control and input is being removed. Health is controlled from cities. Education reflects the needs of the urban areas.
Infrastructure and employment benefits the city residents far more than the regions. Ideas about employment, the environment, water needs, etcetera, are controlled from the cities.
Despite rural and regional opposition the combination of business conglomerates and combined unions impose their ideas about mining and CSG extraction on rural and regional residents.
Our governors live far from the destruction and devastation of the landscape, and they take their holidays overseas rather than in Australian regions.
Their understandings about transport are focussed on city problems. They know, and care little, about transport in regional Australia.
We simply cannot allow Turnbull and Shorten to relax in their tiny metropolitan splendour and ignore the spatial vastness that is Australia.