Rural Australia

Should The Bush just vote back the people it has supported forever i.e. The Vailles, Andersons, McGaurans and Heffernans? In the cities, because there are a significant number of voters who swing between the traditional political battle of Labor and Liberal, most electioneering is spent trying to woo them.Wouldn’t it make sense then if The Bush caught on to this and made the parties treat them more seriously as well? And this would then give The Bush more respect from the cities as Bush voters could then participate more in some broader issues rather than the ones that just affect their own hip pockets. e.g. While the media loves painting The Bush as rednecks, most of us have some sensible opinions on the War in Iraq, Free tertiary education, Social payments for those in need, Health costs,  Humanitarian assistance for refugees, Inflationary pressures and interest rates, etc. By always just throwing our lot in with what seem to be issues that just affect our own lives and seemingly not voting for broader, selfless issues, we are an easy media target and an even easier target for professional organisers who move from farmers group to semi-government bodies to state or federal politics – and we all know a swag of them!  And by mindlessly supporting the same party each time despite what we may think abot their handling of major isssues, we have personally ended-up with the costly NLIS, LPA, FMD risk, HECs fees for education that used to be free, service-based health that disadvantages rural areas, etc. Perhaps if we showed a little more flexibility and more Worldy appreciation for how politics is actually run, not only might our opinions be listened to at election time but perhaps we might also achieve a bit more from whichever mob ends-up in power.

 What do you think? Please leave a comment below.