"Tanveer doesn't seem to have much personal knowledge of country life at all, when you consider he's spent his entire life in Sydney, it makes me wonder why people write about things they seem to have little experience of. As with all illness, remove the cause, rather than just put more useless bureaucrats into the field, confusing everyone and stuffing everything up.
Posted by stormbay, Tuesday, 19 May 2009 2:27:19 PM"
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This is a bloke who is living and working out there, and dealing with the problem first hand!

And THAT'S all you can say?

The measure of our concern for this situation is shown in that curt dismissal of someone who is trying to pick up the pieces,-AND the lack of responses to this increasing tragedy.

I myself have bypassed the thread, but kept coming back to it.

I WISH we cared more.
I wish we could establish some sort of 'buddy link'.

These folks HAVE been left behind in the exodus to the city. It was bound to be even tougher for those who are left.

But out of sight, IS out of mind.

And the awful thing about that is that it is also the way our Government/s deal with it. They don't.

When did the Government last express any ONGOING concern for the dying country areas? What have they done? Nothing!

I am so sorry Tanveer. More power to you and those that do what you do.
I feel quite helpless about this.

<”This is a bloke who is living and working out there, and dealing with the problem first hand!”>

He lives in Sydney and has for almost all his life, he's made a couple of trips to rural areas and spent most of that time in regional towns in air-conditioned comfort.

<”I am so sorry Tanveer. More power to you and those that do what you do.
I feel quite helpless about this. “>

Well I don't feel helpless, I live in the bush and am part Koori, so I speak from first hand knowledge. Unlike the ignorant with their holier than thou attitudes, yet don't have a clue about anything to do with the reality of life, nor have any experience of it

Ginx

There is a way to help, see this by ABC's Landline in 2006 (featured Sheffield, Tas):

http://www.abcclassics.com/news/stories/2008/10/04/2382068.htm?site=westernvic

It is most disappointing to find that the federal men's health 'initiative' doesn't seem to apply any of the principles learned in the above suicide prevention program or in other small-scale but successful men's health programs.

I don't think that the federal health department is really that interested in men's health.

Cheers cornflower, I'm going to have a good look at that.

Mens health has always been secondary in terms of available programmes, BUT that in part is due to an attitude by men that 'they don't need a doctor'. It's been made easy for Government/s to be lax on health programmes for men.
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stormbay; I haven't changed my view one atom. I don't care if the guy lives on Mars and visits.

The subject matter is on what's happening out there, and trying to highlight the cost.

Your scorn puzzles me. Are you saying there are no problems, or that a 'City boy' should not highlight them? Which is it?

Me;-I'm a pragmatist. I don't care who highlights this problem. I was with a nationally recognised group, based on country matters/principles. I know what they and their neighbours go through.

(I just went back to read your post again, just to check whether I had misunderstood).

The value of our cousins in the country and bush, and their struggles to provide for us, cannot be underestimated. Yet we are entirely separate from them, and we care little;-our Government/s care little.

I remain perplexed at your anger, and the 'holier than thou' comment.

Ginx, there's big problems for men's health in the bush, it's not the attitude of men, but the attitude of city professionals, bureaucrats and ignorant city dwellers, the biggest contributors to the bushes problems. They arrive in their flash cars and clothes designed for concrete, telling everyone it has to be their way or not at all.

In the bush, there's many women's programs, help centres and privileged access to services run by qualified professionals. For men, they send out bureaucratic social workers who don't want to be there, only relate to red tape, expense accounts and funding cuts. They dribble out department policy and approaches, then leave, so they can have their long weekends. Nothing changes, yet they write a report saying how well they did. Their answers are self help groups, men's sheds and feel good meetings.

The bush doesn't provide you with your foods, you buy imported foods and goods, just like everyone else in cities, destroying the lifestyle of country Australians. That's your holier than thou attitude and why you haven't got a clue what you're talking about. I'm semi retired, but I've worked in mental health for many years, mostly in the bush and get no support from government in dealing with men's mental health. We have a female doctor, psychologist and rural nurse dedicated solely to women, we have child care, social workers, council women's services and 24 hr access lines for women.

For the rest of the population, meaning men, we have a locum doctor changing every few weeks, sometimes we don't have one for days. There's no psychological services at all, except for myself and a retired social worker, our work is voluntary, we can't even get a place to work. You have to remember most of these government departments are run by women, which speaks for itself.

All these problems relate to the selfishness of city dwellers, who support overseas and multinational companies, to the detriment of their own countrymen and producers. Little wonder they are so distressed and feel alone.

stormbay, well said. Cue the usual rants about misogyny from the entitlement Gunxies and the rest of the lighweights.

The fact is that men do not get the same level of governmental support as women do whether you are talking about the cities or the bush, or whether you're talking about mental health, physical health or any other form of State support. The bureaucracies are basically run by and for women and men can look after themselves. if you raise questions about this, you'll be told it's because we have UN treaty obligations, which make the rights of a woman in Somalia more important for Australian Governments than those of men in Australia.