Rural Australia - The Political Outcasts

15 August 2009

With Labor holding virtually no seats within rural  Australia, it is understandable in a pragmatic, callous and ruthless kind of way that rural Australia is becoming increasingly politically isolated.

Though it has received scant media coverage, in the May budget Land and Water Australia (LWA) was cut as a $13 million cost saving measure. The LWA works in rural Australia to make farming more sustainable, better manage our water and research the capture of carbon within soil.

For what we are told is an environmentally conscience government to cut such an agency seems somewhat strange until you consider the political implications. Yer I draw a blank too as all these cuts do is frustrate people who do not vote Labor anyway. The money areas for Labor are suburban and inner city Australia.

Maybe this answers the questions I raised in my previous blog as to why we prop our car industry up at $100’s of millions a year. Suburban Australia is where our cars are produced.

This pragmatic political approach I understand, yet it goes against the huge value the Labor party places on symbols. The Labor party was founded in rural Queensland by shearers who striked at the tree of knowledge. The government last year spent $3.4 million on rejuvenating the area - with taxpayers money – such is the importance the Labor party places on symbols. Labor’s early history is nearly exclusively set within rural Australia and yet the current government is cutting back on its responsibilities to these areas.

How nice it would be if Australians voted consistently across demographics. Our political leaders would not know what to do, but at least our taxes would be distributed far more equitably.