*There was nothing wrong with the Labor policies*

The real problem is that you actually believe that stuff and
blame it all on the "evil" press. Too many in the Labor
Govt forgot that WA does not end on the outskirts of Perth,
but covers about a third of Australia. Ignore that
at your peril.

Dear yabbie please do not let your defence of conservatism interfere with your sense of fair play. Without a doubt the West Australian during the last eight years has been virulently anti-labor, whether or not this is latterly a personal thing between journalists & ex journalists only the actual combatants would know the true story. Also, do not automatically assume I am a Labor supporter because I do try to see both sides of the story. Wealthy country farmers (and there are still quite a few of them) are quite happy to share the spoils of socialism such as one desk selling grain monopolies, monopolistic agricultural marketing boards,( and very actively defend them against criticism),exceptional circumstances funding,(in some cases(not all)just the wealthy farmers dole,without the assets/income tests),but profess to be the ultimate conservatives when it comes to choosing governments,( the best of both political worlds). Can you wonder that city based governments do not exactly take them seriously?( This would include Liberal Governments).

Jack, if you go back through your papers, the West gave the last
Liberal Govt a hard time. It is their job, to be criticial, no matter
who is in power. That is the nature of a good press. Newspapers are
there to sell papers, not to pat politicians on the head and cover up
their misdeeds.

*Wealthy country farmers (and there are still quite a few of them)*

So you mean Jack, you won't be happy until every peasant is grovelling? Think again!

Benchmark WA grain growers, livestock producers against global
benchmarks, they can be extremely proud of their achievements.
I remind you that in your $4- loaf of bread, only about 20c is down
to the price of wheat, the rest is city added costs.

How much EC funding comes to WA Jack?

I remind you that agriculture carried Australia for generations and
is still critical to the current account, as you city slickers seem
unable to make any money in the real, global world. Trading houses
with one another is not going to do it for you.

Ignore the rest of WA, at your peril, as the Carpenter Govt has
just found out. As a person, I actually quite like Carpenter, but
his Govt clearly took your advice and ignored the country, at its
own peril. So it serves him right if he lost Govt.

Yabbie: newspapers are supposed to be fair & equitable in their reporting, I doubt very much that the West has ever been that in its whole entire printing life. I certainly have no wish to see anyone grovelling, neither do I like to see wealthy agriculturalists queing up for government hand outs, or, demanding more than their equitable share. I must agree WA farmers are, on the whole, hardworking, very efficient farmers, with few government subsidies. I must also agree that the main cost in foodstuffs is not the primary producer but the ensueing ancillary costs, but hey! this is your conservative/capitalistic system at work? Wholesalers, secondary wholesalers,etc, etc. Australia used to live on the sheeps back, not anymore, the biggest export earner by far is the mining industry, Queensland coal & WA iron ore, both bought by Communist China. Ironic? Country WA has never, but never, been ignored by any WA government of any persuasion, just been placed in its proper order as is the normal way in a democracy.

*Country WA has never, but never, been ignored by any WA government of any persuasion,*

Clearly it has, that is why the mining areas too, supported Grylls.
Why should land be so expensive in mining towns? Because the Govt
never released enough blocks etc. Why was the flying doctor service so short of funds?

This list goes on. Labor decided that country votes did not matter,
with the new electoral boundaries. A 500 million$ museum, 300 million$ new foreshore,
1.6 billion choo choo train, 1.1 billion
footy stadium, everything for Perth, meantime in a town near me, there is a single overworked
cop, as there is no housing for a second one. Its a friggin
disgrace.

Of course farming still matters. Australia still has a current
account deficit of around 5.5%. Go much above that and you are
heading for banana republic status. We still need every export $
that we can generate, to pay our overseas debts.

Multiply out the 30 or so billion in farm exports in employment terms
to feeder industries and you are talking 12% of GDP. That does not
matter to you? Think again. Or perhaps buy your food from China :)