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The Forum > Article Comments > The Nationals may be heading into the wilderness, forever > Comments

The Nationals may be heading into the wilderness, forever : Comments

By Geoff Robinson, published 17/9/2007

It is 84 years since the federal Coalition was formed, but on current trends it is unlikely to make its centenary.

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Looks like the power of the bush has had its day.

As an oldie going on 87, glad I left school early to work on the farm during the Depression, earlier in the last year cheering cockies as they picketed the one Wesfarmer's weighbridge, part of the wheat hold-up that finally threw out Big Biz middle-men, Bunge and Dreyfus, the Pollard Labor Federal government allowing the formation of the single-desk AWB which by backing the cost of production allowed what was left of the cockies to stay on the land.

Now as a crazy old student looking back, now realise we were agrarian unionists, and must say still real proud of it, and must still say ordinary cockies with a mind for sport and general local friendliness, will never be part of the corporate culture that now props up the ersatz liberal Party - never really a party of the ordinary folk.

Regards, BB - WA.
Posted by bushbred, Monday, 17 September 2007 6:49:14 PM
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The Nationals in league with the National Farmers Federation and the Liberals have now said farmers don't have to pay the last national wage case increase to their low paid workers because of the drought.

This is a disgrace but typical of the attitude taken by the NFF and the Nationals over the years.

It won't be long before they will be importing lags again by the boatload from the old country to do their work .

One would have thought that if they are really sincere about the welfare of those that would elect them in the country, Howard and the Nationals, under pressure from the NFF would have "topped Up" their low paid workers wages.

These are those people who help farmers gain their incomes and are an important component in the make up of those small but vital country towns all over Australia .

With the weak kneed Nationals well heeled supporters dwindling in number, as they retire to the coast; and with disasterous market orientated social policies and agendas for the bush they are doomed.

There has been hardly a real murmur out of them in Victoria as Melbourne seeks to steal huge quantities of valuable water from the bush in northern Victoria for Melbourne's future gardens and toilets.
Posted by kartiya jim, Monday, 17 September 2007 9:46:35 PM
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Jim,You're forgetting the softdrink companies who're gettin' the cheap bore water,nobody is mentioning that! How many years would that water take to seep down to that level? It is not even turned into a healthy product.This country is being raped. Tell me if I'm wrong.
Posted by eftfnc, Tuesday, 18 September 2007 12:46:14 AM
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Some true escapes from reality and the thread here.
Some forever and ever can not see the type of world they want is unlikely ever to exist.
Voters will not fill a line waiting to vote as told ,that is the problem the Nationals face.
They still look like farmers but are in fact the party of the mine owners.
And it shows coastal towns that are in National hands now will not be forever, as people understand Nationals are a rump not a coalition.
However if we drop our biases and consider the actions of Barnaby Joyce, understanding the pressure he has always been under from within the air wasting party?
We may just see a man who can prolong the party's slide into oblivion.
Posted by Belly, Tuesday, 18 September 2007 7:02:19 AM
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Farmers surviving world change. I have enormous empathy for farmers in Australia. Yes, the dollars required for drought relief is good...but it is a long way from the real story.

Since the mid 1990s I am astounded with the technical progress of farmers.Of all the industries it is perhaps one of the most progressive industrys of all but also the most vunerable.

Whats to happen in the future for farmers. With so many leaving the land ... the shifting age demographics, shifting markets and decreasing product returns because of drought... it is getting tougher for farmers.

Politically, I see the National Party having more in common with the Greens or Labor then it has with Liberal the party. This is because services in the bush are increasingly under stress.

I see Mental Health and Employment, Transport, Communication and access to markets as the major issues that will depict the stablity for the bush.

Skills development is a key underlying the problem solve.This is a major planning issue that must bridge generations as well as combat market and technological issues that will contribute to the way rural people access future wealth and influence the distribution of this wealth within smaller communities at ground levels.
Posted by miacat, Tuesday, 18 September 2007 9:04:43 AM
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The Nationals have always been a poor second choice substitute for real self government in the regions. They have always owed their existence to the fact that there is rarely a one-size-fits-all solution between metropolitan and regional needs. But any attempt to address these differences have been perceived by metro voters as some sort of special pleading for favourable treatment.

Put new regional states in place and the need for specific policies for those regions will be met by their own parliament. The region itself will become the distinct political brand, not the political party. That way we will then see the proper development of legitimate interests within the existing major parties in the same way that the US Republicans and Democrats from the 'farm states' can elect members with distinctly regional flavours.
Posted by Perseus, Tuesday, 18 September 2007 12:02:59 PM
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