To DFXK and Perseus and other supporters of the victim mentality MINORITY in the rural community, I simply ask this.

If in my industry there are some that are suffering from being located in the wrong place, or subject to some economic or weather vagary year after year, would YOU feel sorry for me, my children and their children and hand me money or concessions year after year especially as most of my competitors are sitting on million dollar properties (ie. businesses).

I think not for you would say to me get out and leave it to the more successful.

Victim mentallity has been played out to be institutionalised in Australia in some quarters.

Australia has rich productive land. It simply has been over extended with some still undersized farms. Some still have learned that every few years it gets rough and dont provision for it expecting the National Party to engineer concessions, extenuating circumstance handouts, communications assistance, education, medical etc favours. No wonder so many in the rural sector sit quietly, distributing their wealth through family trusts and on million dollar properties as de facto superannuation funds IF they chose. No wonder family trusts remain as a furphy ignored by government.

Callous? No well orchestrated sympathy my those reticent to adjust and a government reluctant to focus its favours to help those adjust, not stay.

The politics or envy are alive and well. People living in 2 bedroom city apartments professing to know all about farming - or are they trying to impress us with their debating skills rather than their knowledge of anything in particular?

This is obviously a ploy to get those remaining country properties broken up and sold down to city folk for their impending “tree change” which by its very name implies their preference for some mature trees on their property by the time they arrive. Sure there are cheap “bush blocks” but these don’t have sufficient infrastructure provisions and do not allow weekenders.

Frankly, DFXK, I really don't care who wins an election in the city state of NewSydGong. It is not my problem. We in the country all choose to live in the country but for some perverted notion of democracy, we must endure an urban government that is not of our choosing. And we must endure the consequences of ignorant urban governance by people with the sort of attitudes displayed on this trail.

It is our choice, and our right, to form a government, a new state within the broader Australian federation, that is capable of understanding our problems and responding accordingly. The blatant bigotry and vilification that we have observed here demonstrates that there are two distinct communities. One of them imposes their will on the other while the other cops flack for even raising a concern. The current state entity is not working, or is only working for an ambivalent majority.

And even yourself, who we probably have a lot in common, saw the issue from your own urban self interest. That is, we need to continue under repression because without it, urban liberals could not win a metropolitan election.

Not good enough. Not by a long stretch.

Suffering in your jocks,like the rest of us. Wake up, Howard is responsible for all your woes.Ten years in power, if your suffering who is to blame?

Good stuff Remco.

It’s time that the bitter old man and his couple of less extreme buddies gave it a break and entered the real world, where farmers are equal to the rest of us.

Most farmers and graziers with whom I have spoken, and that’s hundreds over many years, have a real feeling for their land, including all the vegetation and wildlife on it. They notice when certain birds or animals disappear or increase in number, or when certain plants flower at odd times or fail to set fruit. They notice the changing composition of the grasses with fire, with wet or dry seasons or with grazing pressure.

So often that I have lost count people on the land have said, “I’m not a greenie but……”. They don’t want to be known as greenies, but they are true environmentalists. These people are admirable. Yes, some of them want to clear more land, but they mostly have a sense of balance about what they should clear and what they should leave.

They unanimously understand that there are rogue operators out there who have vastly overcleared and still will if they get the chance. They understand the need for tree clearing legislation.

Increasing regulation / restrictions on farmers is NOT a ‘war on farmers’, nor anything of the sort, It is an honest attempt, done differently by different state governments, to protect both ecological values and long-term productivity. In other words; to reach sustainability.

Those who vehemently denounce these increases in regulation and promulgate the us-and-them attitude where farmers are purely victims and bureaucrats, governments, urban dwellers and indeed any non-farmer are the abject enemy, are a really unfortunate bunch sorry souls who have lost their way. If they achieve anything, it is damage to their own health and an increase in the divisions in our society, which is bound to work against the minority, in this case farmers.

Dredging up the same old anecdotal stuff again, Ludwig. Unanimous support from farmers for the veg-leg? Get real, and have a scrap of respect for the intelligence of the readers. Most country areas have 75% National Party or similar Independent support. The exceptions are electorates with either coastal tourism or mining. Take out the teachers and others on temporary postings to the bush and that support increases to about 80% and amongst farmers it is closer to 90%. And their most significant issue (until the health debacle) was the loss of property rights and bungled vegetation legislation.

And here we have a departmental drone trying to delude himself, and anyone gullible enough, that farmers support the the injustices done to them. Do you get paid for this, Ludwig? Will it go on your resume for your next job?