ICB: The myth of rural virtue

Nathan says:

07:11am | 16/12/11

Cry me a river, you choose to live in the country others choose to live in the city. Your attitude is typical of many country folk that really irrates me, you have a chip on your shoulder because you think your tough living in the country.

Sit there and put yourself on a pedestal “think about everything you consume in a day and where it come from you goose” the article was saying we are the same you goose. Farmers get paid for their produce when there are droughts governments gives money. Without the city you could feed yourselves and not much else, just like we need agriculture so we don’t have to import everything

Paul says:

09:02am | 16/12/11

Yeah and with that little rant you just made the authors point perfectly.  Thanks for playing!

James1 says:

09:22am | 16/12/11

How is this a reasonable response to this article?  The author argues that city and country people are pretty much the same, and that the main difference is that they live in different places.  Why have you taken offense at the idea that you are no better or worse than a city person?

Before you attack me, I grew up in rural and regional areas, worked on farms to pay my way through a degree at a small regional university, and now work in an office in front of a computer in Canberra.  I have seen both worlds.

PsychoHyena says:

09:38am | 16/12/11

@ago… how about you think of the fact that without “oxygen thieves” as you call us you wouldn’t actually make a living out in the bush. You need customers, the city dwellers are your customers, country-folk need city-dwellers and vice versa.

Fairsnotfair says:

09:51am | 16/12/11

No, the government does NOT give money when there is a drought. Current grain prices are on equal level with early 1980’s prices but NO MONEY from government, either federal or state (NSW). Tony Burke, when Agriculture Minister, did away with any form of exceptional circumstances assistance.

Food is now the lowest price proportion of the family budget: as consumers, we spend more on leisure actrivities, driving cars less than 3 years old and the “right” postcode than feeding our families. Our primary producers are not making a fortune. So, Stephen Harrington is incorrect: there is a massive divide and not just geographically, between country (where the good folk live) and the city (where the latte-sippers and takers live). It is mainly economic.

On the bright side, people out in the “regions” (whatever that means and I suspect Stephen Harrington uses this term in a derogatory way) are actually much nicer, friendlier and harder working. They generally are more honest as they have to live where they work and this makes them accountable for their behaviour. In the cities, people scurry to work without chatting, they drag through their days trying to beat the system and then drag themselves back home without passing the time catching up & relaxing with a small chat. Even doing their groceries involves minimal contact with others.

Every year there seems to be an attack on country people. I guess it’s because you are envious of what we have.

Until the economics of being a primary producer begin to make sense, the standard of living of good counrty folk will remain at a lower level.

Sarah says:

10:53am | 16/12/11

@Ago

I understand what you mean. I grew up on a little farm in the middle of absolutely nowhere and we had intermittent postal service, you had to get in a car and drive for a minimum of 40 minutes to get more fuel and access a single, crappy store that sold the minimum of necessities at the highest possible price.

Phone and Power were a little flaky - the lines broke down regularly and it took so much longer to fix because of the distance from the metropolitan area and the size of the local population (about 5 families if I remember correctly, including my family).

We could get 2 TV stations due to distance and local geography issues and the quality of that coverage was hazy at best, I was born in ‘82 - so the Internet was not something commonplace when I grew up - but still to this day, people in the area that I grew up in, are forced to go to satellite if they want the net and that is highly priced and dodgy in its reliability.

No garbage service - you minimised your waste and buried what you couldn’t break down. No mains water - we had two large tanks and a pump feed up from the dam. In droughts we frequently had to purchase water - never a cheap thing. No sewer lines - so a massive septic tank that wasn’t pretty when there was a leak or other problem with it. Plus it has to be emptied occasionally - another cost.

I was 3 hours each way, from the local school and was able to get a restricted special license at 13, to drive my sister and I in an ancient old bomb to the school so that we could get in there every day.

If it rained heavily, the dirt roads in our area (no bitumen for us) flooded and I remember many many school days that were absentee as it was too risky to drive through them, so we were cut off and waiting for the waters to subside.

Bushfires were a big fear and a constant fear - and the knowledge that the only fire fighting service was a very very small volunteer outfit that was still 30 odd kilometres away wasn’t comforting.

If you ran out of something, you just had to make do, until the next trip into ‘town’.

So yes - it is isolating, it is harder and it is an entirely different way of life to metropolitan living.

I live in metro now and have done for the last 10 years. I notice still, to this day - the difference in people’s attitudes.

Out in the bush, you all banded together, supported one another and helped one another if times got tough. That didn’t mean you all got along - far from it - but if there was a family struggling nearby, everyone would quietly chip in and help out, without sacrificing the pride of that family.  I remember my father often helping out other people - with doing chores for them, helping with hay harvests, shearing time, my mum would make extra casseroles or roasts and send one down the road to a struggling family nearby.

When my mum got sick when I was 7 and spent 5 months in hospital in the nearest city, the other families banded together and took my sister and I in, and fed us, clothed us, got us to school, and kept our farm going - as my dad was in the city with my mum 90% of the time due to the severity of her illness.

Plain and simple, this kind of community belonging is just not commonplace in metro areas. In fact, its almost non existent.

So yes, I believe - there is a huge difference between ‘country’ folk and ‘city’ folk. And funnily enough, its only ever the ‘city’ folk who ever rant and rave saying that there’s no difference. Because its those complainer’s who as a rule, have NFI as to what its like to live that kind of life.

Anne71 says:

01:11pm | 16/12/11

Wow, @ago and @Sarah - you could feed several developing countries with those chips on your shoulders!  And with your respective rants, you have proved the point of the original article perfectly.  Country people really do seem to consider themselves superior to city people.

St. Michael says:

01:17pm | 16/12/11

“So yes - it is isolating, it is harder and it is an entirely different way of life to metropolitan living.”

Generally, living in Third World conditions does seem to have that characteristic.

fish says:

01:17pm | 16/12/11

There is not difference - we’re all @rsholes

jade (the other one) says:

01:29pm | 16/12/11

@Sarah, during the floods, while the St George Mayor was crapping on about how country people band together in a way that city people would never, me and my friends were making sandbags, alongside people who had already lost everything, for people we would never meet. People in West End, Graceville, Auchenflower, the Gabba, and other affected areas in Brisbane city were walking up and down the streets to see how they could help complete strangers. Before the floods, people were walking around helping people move furniture, and providing garage and other space to people who had none.

After the floods, Brisbane people opened their homes to people living in evacuation centres in Grantham and Toowoomba, offering their hospitality to complete strangers who, a few months before, and very soon after were sneering at the very mention of city folk.

I know that when Charleville and surrounds flooded in early 2010, people in those towns were concerned with themselves, and their friends in the town. Those they didn’t know could have rotted for all the locals cared.

So your crap about the “city” is misplaced. I tend to think that “city people” who volunteer in droves in soup kitchens, salvos stores, and in a million other organisations, helping people they don’t know, and may never meet again, are more generous, more caring and more honest than country folk who’ll only help their neighbour or friend.

Rick of the Dustbowl says:

02:43pm | 16/12/11

I lived rural for 10 years , saw 3 close work mates die from cancer probably from the crap chemicals that most farmers use these days , I’m back living in the city now you. All the “good” people can keep their clean living bullshit. It’s a load of wank.

SpagBol says:

03:08pm | 16/12/11

@ago / Fairsnotfair / Sarah,

So… basically you think you’re superior to anyone who hasn’t grown up on a farm? Good for you, guys, whatever makes you feel better about yourselves, I guess.

PW says:

03:57pm | 16/12/11

Fairsnotfair says:10:51am | 16/12/11

No, the government does NOT give money when there is a drought. Current grain prices are on equal level with early 1980’s prices but NO MONEY from government, either federal or state (NSW).

Maybe that is because there is not currently a drought? the last one broke about two years ago.

Wheat, like every other commodity traded internationally, is priced on a market basis. Maybe supply exceeds demand at present.

Sam says:

06:01pm | 16/12/11

The farming industry are out to make a buck like all who are self employed, companys fail everyday in a world where people want more money then needed, thats reality, if I was trying to make hundreds thousands, even millions, I could neverplay a victim in any circumstance, mass farming is not smart and is the result of a combination of short sightedness and greed, I grow all a familys of 6 fruit and veg within 4 square meters, plenty of fish around and game meat, no self employed person gets proped up during NORMAL environment cycles like.farming does, anyway most farmer inherited their land from times when no one payed for.land, I would love a freebie cashcow like that, although my dignity and morals wouldnt allow me to defend/justify such un sustainable pratices, why buy in when the freebie land USER already dominate the industry and also have their hands out whenever profit dont allow the high life, if its so hard and bad lets swap, I will pay what you payed for the land, didnt think so

David says:

10:52am | 17/12/11

When I was a kid my parents bought a weekend flat in the country and we went there every second weekend or so. As I remember the country people were a bunch of biggoted rednecks that labeled us townies and were far less than welcoming. I think ago that you have proven that this was not just something unique to the town we were in.

Troll says:

12:10pm | 18/12/11

Problem? U mad?

Helen says:

10:25am | 19/12/11

[we choose to live here to grow produce to feed oxygen thieves like you,
]

LOL, the OP’s point is demonstrated with the very first comment. O_o

malohi says:

08:28am | 16/12/11

Yeah he should have to visit those towns, so he can turn on the tv/ go on the internet and see the advertisements and media portrayal of Australia to which he referred. Please try to read the article.

Little Joe says:

11:13am | 16/12/11

Don’t you love the people who are allowed to write for the punch ...... and what gets published

“Watch any ad produced by Tourism Australia and you’ll see what I mean. In this famous one, for example, there’s only one interior shot, and that’s in a stereotypical country pub in red dust.”

The advertisement is to encourage people to see parts of Australia ..... maybe unique parts of Austarlia ...... maybe places unique to Austarlia ..... that they may not have visited!!!

Nathan says:

07:16am | 16/12/11

Yeah you did it in retirement, give us a chance and we might do the same. The examples you put is not true for everyone. Your life suits you better but not everyone. There is a reason most the young people bugger off first opportunity

Little Joe says:

11:07am | 16/12/11

Do people in retirement sit in traffic three hours each day???

Tim says:

06:57am | 16/12/11

Good work Mahhrat,
You respect the tiny minority of rural people that do that.
Now how about the point of this article?

acotrel says:

07:02am | 16/12/11

@Mahrat
Farming is a lifestyle choice !  Until recently the money involved would have been better in the stock exchange.

Mahhrat says:

07:24am | 16/12/11

@Tim, I said “Fair enough”, which you should have been able to infer ‘as far as it goes’.

I live in Hobart, because for me it’s the right balance between the convenience of a larger population while still small enough to, as Acotrel said, avoid spending 3 hours a day travelling to and from work.

Living in Melbourne in 2008, that’s exactly what I did.

It now takes me 20 minutes a day in travel - 10 there and 10 back.  Even then, I hate going into Hobart itself.  Too many people.

Is there a divide?  Of course there is.  It’s just petty tribalism at work.  It’s not country versus city, it’s “us” versus “everyone else”.  Our OP is a city boy, so he sees this backwards attitude as some kind of affront to his way of life (which it is).  What he fails to realise is that his way of life is probably similarly affronting (sic) to his father.

Hell man, I take the piss out of city slickers myself, and I get called a country yokel (or things to that effect) on here regularly enough.  I live in a suburb not unlike Sydney’s inner west (though with thanfully less crime) or Glenroy in Melbourne.

Who cares?  My motto is a non-religious version of “Do unto others.”  I respect people in big cities for their ability to live the rat race.  I respect people in the country for the demanding work they do at the vagaries of elements outside their control.  Neither lifestyle suits me, so I choose Hobart, because it does.

I actually thought I’d communicated the basic ideas behind that reasonably succinctly, but hey it’s Friday and it’s Christmas.  Consider this explanation your present.

jf says:

08:11am | 16/12/11

I started my career in rural finance.

Just as there are a lot of good, bad and indifferent small businesses, there are good, bad and indifferent farms. Just as there are lots of very hard working farmers (and small business owners) there are also lots farmers who enjoy a lovely life working relatively small hours most of the year and long hours at certain times of the year. Just as farmers struggle financially from time-to-time, so do many small business owners.

All in all, it’s a bloody good lifestyle. They are important to our economy and our lifestyles, just as most of us are to theirs.

Sarah says:

08:14am | 16/12/11

The majority of people in regional australia are not farmers and do not live on the land. They live in country towns, where, apart from the fact that there isn’t another town butted up against them, life isn’t much different than being in an outer suburb of Sydney. I’m from a small town in central western NSW of 1200 people - life there was the same as life here in Sydney (though we had fewer facilities), it’s just that there you had to drive 45 mins to get to the next group of people. Here the next suburb starts where yours ends.

Dave says:

11:31am | 16/12/11

Cool. Its good that you respect all those people in China and New Zealand. they work damned hard.

Nathan says:

07:19am | 16/12/11

oh yeah mate, lived in a country town for 4yrs. Being a city kid i copped crap for it its called banter deal with it. I thought you country folk where tough.

wakeuppls says:

07:47am | 16/12/11

@Nathan What the hell are you on about? Inhaled too many traffic fumes this morning?

NigelC says:

07:56am | 16/12/11

I live on 10 acres 5km from a small-ish country town, on a property with horses, dogs, chooks, fruit-trees and and a dam full of ducks.  I do wear Ariat boots, an Akubra hat,  and sometime I wear a blue singlet. Apparently I’m a clown because I drink real coffee made from beans, I Iove my latte, and my short black.  Seems like the boat captain is the clown in wakeuppls argument.

jf says:

08:14am | 16/12/11

wakeuppls says: 07:42am | 16/12/11

“Damn, your biggest problem in life is your insecurities about being a city slicker?”

Damn, your biggest problem in life is your insecurities about some some city slicker writing an article challenging the difference between city and country people.

On a more humorous note, years ago a jackaroo mate of mine visited me in the city. He pointed at the microwave and asked why we needed a tv in the kitchen. Jeez we laughed.

James1 says:

09:28am | 16/12/11

I have an espresso machine in my kitchen.  It cost $120.  They are not as uncommon as you seem to think.

Anyway, you think liking a particular type of coffee makes a person a clown?  What a shallow attitude.

marley says:

09:46am | 16/12/11

I live in a small town (pop 2000).  At last count there were 11 venues where one could get an espresso.  And they do a roaring business not just with city slicker blow-ins and grey nomads but with local tradies, farmers and the like.  Good coffee is good coffee, and country folk are just as appreciative as city folk.

PsychoHyena says:

09:49am | 16/12/11

wakeuppls… I see more espresso machines in the homes of country-folks than I do in the homes of city-folks. By your definition that must make all those country-folks clowns.

The issue in Australia and elsewhere in the world is that people only see the work that they do. They don’t see the hundreds of people working to ensure the banks run, they don’t see all the admin staff ensuring goods get to where they need to go, farmers don’t see the customers that buy their produce so that the farmers can survive, customers don’t see the farmers that work hard growing the produce.

I understand that a lot of work goes into producing good quality wool to make the clothing and blankets I buy, I understand a lot of work goes into growing quality food. I also understand that if no-one was buying this stuff then farmers would go broke and have no job, just like all the factory workers that process the produce and the retailers that sell it, and the bank workers that control the money.

Get over it, you’re not more important to the supply chain than anyone else along it.

wakeuppls says:

10:11am | 16/12/11

A lot of people seem to miss the point, so I guess I’ll explain it.

Only a city slicker would assume an espresso machine is available on a small fishing vessel. And only city slickers would get their panties in a bunch when they are called on it.

And I don’t know which “country town” you’re talking about marley, but I’ve never walked into a house in the country and seen an espresso machine. Only city slickers or the filthy rich sea changers enjoy those frivolous niceties.

Tim says:

10:41am | 16/12/11

wakeuppls,
yeah I agree with you.
Just like the country bumpkin we had come and visit the big smoke the other week. Being from outback QLD he couldn’t get over having daylight savings in NSW.
He said that they didn’t want it where he lived because all that extra daylight made the curtains fade and the cows give less milk.
Ahh country folk, so down to earth and simple.

James1 says:

10:47am | 16/12/11

Your story really says more about the captain than anything else.  Sounds like a real piece of work, if he takes issue at people expressing a preference for good coffee.  What a strange place you must live in.  Would it be unfair to say that this exemplifies the country slicker attitude?  To judge someone on their postcode and preference for a particular type of coffee is pretty shallow, no matter how you look at it.

Many of we city dwellers prefer to judge a man based on the content of his character, rather than the content of his coffee cup.  Indeed, I am sure most country people do to.  You and this captain fellow seem to be rare exceptions to this rule.

jf says:

11:27am | 16/12/11

wakeuppls says:11:11am | 16/12/11

“And only city slickers would get their panties in a bunch when they are called on it.”

What sort of person would get “their panties in a bunch” about a city slicker writing an article saying, in essence, that in his opinion there isn’t that much difference between regional and rural people? Having spent many years living in the country I know enough about country people to know not to generalise about them so it must just be you.

You do seem to have some sort of a chip on your shoulder. As to forming a judgement about people based on what kitchen appliances they do or don’t own, sheessh. I live in a 000 postcode and don’t own a coffee machine because there are a thousand coffee shops just near me. If I lived in the bush I’d have one for sure.

Hossak says:

05:25am | 17/12/11

Goodness me if you people cannot stand someone having a go at you then I really suggest you stay in the city. This is evidenced by the plethora of comments responding to wakeuppls. Harden up yeah?

S.L says:

07:19am | 16/12/11

Tim agreed. I grew up in Sydney but have spent a lot of time in a Western NSW town of 300 population. There’s the druggies, centerlink losers, overachievers and self proclaimed community leaders in “one horse” towns just as there are in the big smoke!

Kirsty says:

08:00am | 16/12/11

I grew up in a small town in the sticks and those that buy into the myth tend to be the rich cocky’s or “the landed gentry” as they are also known as, they think farming is the be all and end all and judge everyone by how much land they have and what they are growing/breeding.  As with city areas we have the centrelink losers and druggo’s (usually the same people).  Lately though it seems to be one long episode of a soap with affairs etc happening left, right and centre.

TimB says:

08:02am | 16/12/11

Probably not statictically relelvant. The only time my family has ever been a victim of crime, is when my Grandparent’s house in Bowraville got broken into whilst we were staying there.

Meanwhile, I’ve lived in Western Sydney all my life, and have never had an issue.

Shane From Melbourne says:

10:22am | 16/12/11

@Tim- Hear Hear…...except that Canberra has more arseholes than usual when Parliament is in session….

Jordan says:

08:38am | 16/12/11

Discrimination against the bush on what objective measure?

Rural areas are still cross subsidised by urban areas, receiving far more dollars in government spending than what they contribute in tax income. This is good, it is the government’s job to try and provide some equity in services, but its a little irritating when this is then framed as oppression rather than generosity.

The average rural resident is probably just as ignorant of the issues facing people in cities as the city dweller is of the bush. They’re also very much a minority at 11% of the population.

And on live exports, the government probably went against majority public opinion in not for instance requiring stunning as a minimum requirement for resumption of the trade. Its fair that they took the views of the rural sector into much greater account because the issue affects people in rural areas much more directly. But the idea their actions were “pandering” to some fringe sentiment is just nonsense. Many, many people were utterly disgusted by the events in Indonesia, which were the direct result of the industry completely failing to protect its long term interests by ensuring safeguards were in place. It certainly was not the individual fault of any cattle farmers, but they could and should have done a better job of protecting themselves by putting competent people in charge of self-regulation.

AndrewB says:

10:25am | 16/12/11

” Take a look at what is going on with the Murray Darling Basin Plan “..

Yeah take a real look. The river is unsustainable withe current allocations that farmers have. If farmers really were the best conservationists in Australia they would welcome the plan with open arms. Instead we see people that are either too stupid or ignorant to care that 125% allocation of a river’s flow is unsustainable.

Tator says:

11:35am | 16/12/11

Jordan,
That may be the case, but if you take the huge amounts of funding for services for the remote aboriginal settlements where around 75000 people receive approximately $100k a year in government funded services, you may find that the balance is tilted back where the majority of productive country areas actually receive less government funding than the taxes they provide.  Now I have lived in metropolitan Adelaide, regional Mount Gambier and Rural Eyre Peninsula and I can tell you that the SA ALP government does not like to spend money in rural areas as SA to them stops at Gepps Cross and the Toll Gate.
I also travel all over the state from Cockburn to WA Border Village, Glenburnie to Kulgara and all points inbetween and still have family on the Eyre Peninsula who run a farm and local business.

In addition, it is the rural areas with its agriculture and mining industries which are keeping Australia’s balance of payment figures looking good with Rural (basically all agriculture exports) contributing $3 billion out of $27 billion of exported goods and services.  Now this does not include the $1.1 billion pa in just gold exports nor the massive $113 billion worth of iron ore and coal industry exports which are not included in the $27 billion export records, none of which are based in a metropolitan area.

PTom says:

03:11pm | 16/12/11

@Tator

It may be the rural goods that are keeping the balance of payment figures looking good but why are you try to imply the cities don’t contribute.

When does a country town become a city? 100,000+ then there would be about 18 major cities in Australia and a few of those are major mining towns or is it only those that live in a 1,000,000+ that are city folk.

BTW Sydney still has a working coal mine.

Diamantina Dick says:

03:56pm | 16/12/11

“we see people that are either too stupid or ignorant to care”

I rest my case.

I see people who have increased water efficiency several fold and who have unfunded water conservation projects on hold while the Government spends tens of millions buying water entitilements ‘for the environment’ that can’t even be filled unless there is water available.

Tator says:

08:18pm | 16/12/11

PTom,
not stating that the city folk don’t carry their weight, just pointing out that the majority of rural folk make a substantial contribution and contribute more than their fair share.

I would hazard a guess that if you removed all the funding that remote settlement aborigines get from the rural funding equation, the funding per capita would drop to metropolitan levels or lower as you have 75000 indigeneous people living in these settlements receiving benefits and funding for services to the extent of $100000 per person per annum ($7.5 billion.  ( http://www.pc.gov.au/ier/publications/ier-2010) and analysed here
http://www.quadrant.org.au/magazine/issue/2011/6/rivers-of-money-flow-into-the-sand
Plus a lot of rural spending is on major highways and rail links linking capital cities enabling trade and transportation for the benefit of those primarily in the city, yet it gets debited to the rural people “subsidisation” as it is in rural areas ie spending on the Hume, Dukes and Pacific Highways.

acotrel says:

02:11am | 17/12/11

@AndrewB
You are correct about the MDBA plan.  The water has been over-allocated to farmers by the Authority.  They obviously hadn’t factored in climate change, or allowed for a ten-year drought. The water problem will only get bigger. The next drought will probably be more extreme, judging by the weather trends right across the globe.

Tim says:

09:12am | 16/12/11

Yes,
Innercity wankers represent the entirety of city dwellers.
Well done, gold star.

jade (the other one) says:

11:01am | 16/12/11

@Steve.

Give me city people any day. Country people who rush to snap judgments about people, express racist views about people from countries they’ve never been to, and who they’ve never even met (I had to listen to people rant on and on and on about the evils of Africans - except they’d never actually met one), are homophobic, and who assume that every girl raised in the city is a tremendous slut while ignoring their own children’s concerted efforts to sleep with half the district.

Give me city people who don’t care what type of music I listen to, what car I drive, what clothes I wear, or what I do for a living, and who don’t feel a need to know every insignificant detail about my everyday existence, from what laundry detergent I use, to why I happened to be at the coffee shop yesterday. Who don’t judge me for the type of underwear I hang on my clothes line.

Give me city people who let me be anonymous, who are friendly, civil and polite, without being intrusive, and who aren’t pig ignorant of anything happening outside their little insignifcant speck of the world.

Shane From Melbourne says:

11:30am | 16/12/11

What is this country folk obsession with coffee drinkers? Does it really matter if those innercity wankers have 6 different types of coffee? Me, I couldn’t tell the difference between a latte and expresso because I don’t drink coffee. Only Pepsi Max. Accept no substitutes.

St. Michael says:

12:03pm | 16/12/11

@ Shane from Melbourne: Coke Zero, heathen.

Anne71 says:

01:03pm | 16/12/11

@Jade (the other one):  Hear hear! I am so very, very sick and tired of country people telling us city dwellers how shallow, rude and unfriendly we all are, and how much better country life is compared to the city. Newsflash, dear country cousins - WE DON’T CARE.  If you’re happy with your lives, that’s great - but stop trying to tell us we should be miserable with ours just because we’re in the city.

jade (the other one) says:

04:42pm | 16/12/11

Anne71 - Glad someone understands!

acotrel says:

02:19am | 17/12/11

@Anne71
I’ve never heard a country person complain about Australia becoming over-crowded with asylum seekers.  We welcome them in the bush.  If our country towns experience growth, that can only be good for the rest of us.

Tim says:

09:20am | 16/12/11

I would love to see a per capita spend on city vs country.
Whilst the cities obviously have more facilities, I’d love to see if it was more on a dollar for dollar basis by population.

marley says:

09:59am | 16/12/11

@Tim - oh, I’m sure that, per capita, the spend is higher in the country.  After all, it takes a lot of money to build a hospital or a 100 km of highway through a sparsely populated area.

But my point was more that there is a perception (whether well-founded or not) in the country of being ignored, of country needs not being addressed, and that’s where I think the division comes from. 

As an example, the provision of medical services is a chronic problem in rural Australia.  There aren’t enough doctors, many of them are foreign-trained, and few of them bulk-bill.  That’s a problem that’s only going to get worse, yet there’s no sense of anyone at the state or federal level developing a plan to turn that around.  It’s just not a priority.  The result is that a lot of older folk simply can’t afford to go to the doctor.  That’s just not right in a country which supposedly has universal health care.

PTom says:

02:44pm | 16/12/11

“There aren’t enough doctors, many of them are foreign-trained, and few of them bulk-bill. ”

“That’s a problem that’s only going to get worse, yet there’s no sense of anyone at the state or federal level developing a plan to turn that around.”

Realy more doctor are and have been trained, it take 6 years to train 1 doctor. NBN and Super Clinic are ways to target rural area health issues.

Cut the bitching about health it is a problem everywhere there are people in the cities who also can’t afford to see their local doctors because of bulk bill too.

I always love when people in rural areas bitch about lack of facillites for 1000 people, while they at the same time bitch that a million people in a city will get a new train line or road while they ingore the billions spent on roads, rail and NBN susbides by those city folk.

Tell you what take the chip off your shoulder and stop whinging how insensitive city folk are, then maybe city folk would start to listen.

Rick of the Dustbowl says:

03:11pm | 16/12/11

They have no voice? Have you noticed they way electoral bounderies are set up to favour bushies? give it a rest. In my opinion they have too much voice but just don’t know what to say.

marley says:

04:36pm | 16/12/11

@PTom - well, here’s what an old rural GP told me.  They’re training the wrong people.  They pick the best and the brightest for medical school - a lot of them Asian - and all of them interested in specializing. Actual GPs or med students who want to be GPs are becoming rarer by the year - not enough money in it, not enough science, lousy hours, too many patients.  He thinks there’s a real disconnect between the needs of the average punter and the emphasis on specialization, and that its getting worse. 

So, the GP shortage is here in the boonies right now, but it’s coming to a town near you in the near future.  If you’re not concerned, you should be.

And if you read what I said, I wasn’t complaining (except about the medical services), I was trying to explain the reason a lot of people in rural areas feel a disconnect.  And dismissive attitudes like yours don’t help.  For example, there’s no superclinic within 200 km of us, and the NBN won’t be a damn bit of help if there’s no doctor to link up with.  Also, just for the record, we don’t have to worry about rail subsidies down my way ‘cause there ain’t no rail lines. 

We have real concerns, and they’re valid ones;  so do you, and I certainly recognize that.  But it doesn’t make ours less real.

malohi says:

08:49am | 16/12/11

We also like paragraphs in the city.

subotic says:

12:02pm | 16/12/11

@malohi - should read: We OVER 25 like paragraphs in the city.

paragraph shmarograph…..

amy says:

12:49pm | 16/12/11

yep…..you right I DO like

I also like self-ritghtous smug people. they are the best

malohi says:

12:55pm | 16/12/11

OVER9000 perhaps?

Fairsnotfair says:

10:08am | 16/12/11

@ Tubesteak - simple sort of stuff (which isn’t really engaging. It’s a job, not a career). ????

Thank goodness we exported you - we “simple” folk without careers really don’t want your sort of strange snobbery & twisted values.

Enough said - stay in the city with your apparently worthwhile, valuable and flourishing “career”. The rest of us will simply keep the world turning with our “jobs”, albeit professionals

A tip for you: never, ever pity your parents. Pity is only used by the smug and ego-inflated..

iansand says:

10:49am | 16/12/11

In my case, as a city boy, I could not adjust to being buttonholed by clients in the supermarket on Saturday morning or in the only decent restaurant in town on Saturday evening (and knowing that the girl from out of town with whom I was dining would be the subject of gossip the next day).  Whereas colleagues who had lived in their town for most of their lives thrived on the 24/7 involvement with the community.

Tubesteak says:

02:38pm | 16/12/11

Fairsnotfair
I guess you can have your insecurities, too. You’ll need all the space that the country has.

iansand
My dad had the same thing. People calling him all the time so we had to have a silent number. Also, can’t walk down the street and get your business or shopping done without someone want to stop and chat for free advice/consultation.

Pudel says:

03:34pm | 18/12/11

I live in a regional city about 14000 people.  Fairsnotfair and inasand, have put into their different posts how I sum up where I live.  The good thing is everybody knows everybody and what they are doing, the bad thing is everybody knows everybody and what they are doing,

malohi says:

08:52am | 16/12/11

Get educated, get a better job, move somewhere with facilities.
BTW stop pushing your carbs on the obese city kids, I hate looking at them.

Blind Freddy says:

09:33am | 16/12/11

@snuck

“Yet still I live out here, growing wheat, so you can have your toast, your weeties, your pasta, your cake.”

That comment encapsulates the arrogance of the rural, regional and remote type. You are doing it for yourself. If you think that you are heroically toilling the soil to feed the city people that you despise- don’t do it, come back. But don’t pretend that you are doing it for us.

“Yet still I live out here, growing wheat, so you can have your toast, your weeties, your pasta, your cake.”  Pffffft! Like the people live in the cities so complaining 3R types can watch TV and cook their pasta and cakes?

Alf says:

09:04am | 16/12/11

Ironic - Labor is giving them ‘government handouts’ and the NBN.

Paul says:

09:20am | 16/12/11

FYI don’t know no better = they do know better

little thing called a double negative =P

Just to be picky and anal =P

Blind Freddy says:

09:35am | 16/12/11

@Corrugated stevedore

National Party? Never heard of them. What do they do?

Corrugated stevedore says:

12:31pm | 16/12/11

Blind Freddy
Stand around and scratch their arse mostly.

Don’t do much for the bush as Alf has pointed out. That’s why you have seen the rise of the independents.

Paul
““Well,” he says, “there’s excuse for picks and letting-on in a case like this; if it warn’t so, I wouldn’t approve of it, nor I wouldn’t stand by and see the rules broke – because right is right, and wrong is wrong, and a body ain’t got no business doing wrong when he ain’t ignorant and knows better. It might answer for YOU to dig Jim out with a pick, WITHOUT any letting on, because you don’t know no better; but it wouldn’t for me, because I do know better. Gimme a case-knife.” (36.8)”
Have some more fun - please direct your comments to Mark Twain.

Skye says:

12:40pm | 16/12/11

@Paul

Actually I think Corugated’s mistake was in misspelling “know”. It should have read ‘who don’t KNOW better’.

Just to be picky and anal.

Alf says:

05:35pm | 16/12/11

@ Skye. “Just to be picky and anal”.

Not a good choice of words there.

jade (the other one) says:

04:33pm | 16/12/11

This is exactly right. Except I fortunately made it out!

Shane From Melbourne says:

02:26pm | 16/12/11

No, I’m Brian.

Wynston Cruso says:

03:54pm | 16/12/11

I’m a boy.

St. Michael says:

11:09am | 16/12/11

Well, at least the country’s got more room to grow more mull.

St. Michael says:

11:10am | 16/12/11

Welcome to the rationale behind 90% of all Hunch articles.

The other 10% are the paid political broadcasts from various MPs and their coveys that apparently think they’re going to change anyone’s mind.

Tim says:

10:27am | 16/12/11

city slickers also know how to use the reply button.

SimonFromLakemba says:

12:46pm | 16/12/11

Haha poor guy

St. Michael says:

11:11am | 16/12/11

Lack of options tends to make you take what you can get.

TS says:

10:53am | 16/12/11

I hope you were being ironic at Port Macquarie being ‘country’?

malohi says:

12:57pm | 16/12/11

OP hasn’t been to fluffy.

jade (the other one) says:

02:36pm | 16/12/11

@Malohi - it’s on my bucket list.

Though, I’ve seen a fair bit in my time, and I still have yet to see anything as disgusting and lewd as the behaviour at BNS balls, rodeos, and Deni.

amy says:

10:18pm | 17/12/11

they had a problem with your cloths? what could they possibly have a problem with?

Farmer Bob says:

02:09pm | 16/12/11

Wow! I had no idea all of this magical machinery existed.  Thank you for enlightening me.  No more fence repairs - they will all be done by the magical fencing machine; no more feeding cattle, the automatic bovine feeding hay-bale distributor will do that, no more shoe-ing horses, they can just shop on the internet for nice shoes. Just press a button on the keyboard and sit-back,and relax as the paddocks are automatically fertilised, seeded, watered and harvested. Brilliant. Apparently ‘jumping’ steers will never escape, sheep don’t need crutching, drenching or shearing and all the animals will give birth without a hitch.
Not all farmers ‘do it for the nation’. They do it for a living and they live in the bush for the clean air, the clear skies, and the smell of nature.
You sir are a wanker of the ocean-going class.

marley says:

02:29pm | 16/12/11

Well, I can read this, and I’m pretty sure I’m living in rural Australia.  The words “country” and “outback” are not synonymous, you know.  And you wouldn’t believe how advanced the country is these days - we have telephones and roads and everything.  We even have espresso machines and wi-fi and mobile broadband, which is why we can read this.

And the farmers down my way all pretty much work a seven day week.  The cows don’t move themselves from field to field, or attach themselves to the milking machines and push the “on” switch.  They don’t take weekends off, either.  The fences don’t self repair, the hay doesn’t stack itself, the apples don’t drop neatly off the tree into nice little boxes. 

And most of the farmers are just pulling themselves out of the hole after years of drought.  They’re restocking, rebuilding their herds and getting some hard cash to pay of their debts.  All that fancy machinery you talk about carries a hefty price tag, after all.  So does cattle feed and fertilizer and diesel and petrol to run all that fine machinery.

amy says:

10:22pm | 17/12/11

you dont know what your talking about

Just wait says:

03:21pm | 16/12/11

Online retail…the whole World is your marketplace, and they have great return policies nowadays.

Sam says:

12:10pm | 19/12/11

Yeah we dont need the bush and national parks, lets just bulldoze the lot, good example of the selfish me me me, I want I want attitude of people used to out dated, un-educated thinking of past times, reminder, its 2011, the reason you cant do certain things is because of the out dated land management ( if you can call it that) practices of the past, farming has evolved an faemers need to.evolve aswell, its the law of the countrys he loves, if you dont follow our law like the imigrants than I think its time to go back to the country and laws you respect

malohi says:

03:22pm | 16/12/11

Your lack of paragraphs and blood thirst is typical of an outback bumpkin, and I had a macchiato this morning so come at me.
I am unsure how you simple folk came across this website but this article should be renamed ‘how to turn farmers into lolcows’.

Sam says:

04:55pm | 18/12/11

Farmers dont struggle, they all own the newest holden ute each year but their work horse is a japanese ute, the majority of society will never own a new car, playing the victim is what got Australia the title of biggest whingers on earth, claiming the need for new technology and hard work in the same sentence is laughable, the tractors and milk machines does all that hard work, farmers of today have it easy compared to the pioners before you, dont insult them by banging on about finacial strain and hard work while riding on your quarter million do all machine, we seem to have selective memories in Australia.

Kheiron says:

10:32pm | 18/12/11

Sam, of course they’re riding on expensive machines, that’s part of the problem. To make headway as a farmer requires an incredible level of investment in land and equipment. The quarter million dollar tractor isn’t the result of financial success, it’s a necessity they’ve probably taken out a loan for.
You and I are looking at an eight to five job, hitting a peak of maybe 400k debt with a mortgage and car loan.
Compare this to one of the farmers I know. He’s sitting on 5 million worth of debt. But hell, he’s got a tractor…so fuck him, right?

Sam says:

09:44am | 19/12/11

yes, an investment, trying to make a million bucks, I dont feel sorry for people trying to get rich and failing, it happens every day, farmers are not special, the fact they see them selfs as the backbone seems a little self indulgent to me, my issue is with people trying to get rich then playing the victim when they cant finance the newest car or tractor, then put their hand out, try being homeless,  an insult to the real farmers doing real hard work, you know like the people in 2nd and 3rd world countrys, they still use their hands, this equipment is not needed, it may be needed to farm huge tracts of land all with the goal of making millions of dollars, if someone is in 500million dollars debt and he is still trying to farm, he doesnt sound like a good farmer, no average person could ever get in that amount of debt, he could because of the assets he has and the ability to generate that scale of income, good example of the victim mentality farmers live by, 500 million is a fantasy number in the real world, thats what I call being proped up like no other industry does. he could sell his tractor and buy a mansion and live in the real world with the majority anyday if its that hard. 500 million in a safe investment would secure my future generations for ever, its there fault they cant manage money properly, whinge whinge whinge

Sam says:

09:48am | 19/12/11

the good old aussies that were racist, the good old aussies that destroyed innocent peoples lives, the good old aussie that is part of Australias most shameful past, but they were harder workers then todays farmer thats for sure, but really they were terrible people, history does not lie, but aussies do about their past

Sam says:

01:05pm | 21/12/11

What real aussies,

How about the Australian race, their are two types of Australians, the aboriginal australian race, and australia imigrants, nationality and race are different things, imigrants are part of the australian national identity but not the race, Imigrants are equal regardless of their identity or time of arival, being on the convict ships or a white european does not mean anything although your superiourity complex may think different

Sam says:

09:56am | 19/12/11

Im from the counrty but because im part of the real Australian race they are racist, they have no integrity, ignorance has blinded them, about 10% are normal and the rest are racist when they havent even meet a real Australian, they have lost the ability of critical thinking and derive all answers from prejudice outdated thinking, to prove my point I suggest any one not white to go to OMEO, you will get my point instantly, a place that has chinese mining history buy no chinese live there? or aboriginals, the definition of white wash

Mark says:

08:23pm | 19/12/11

@ Sam. I think you are the one with the racist issues. These people, the real Aussies that went out and died for us and provided the lifestyle that we now enjoy. These good Aussies just wanted to be left alone. Overpopulation my friend has nothing to do with race, it has everything to do with sustainable management. This issue is the biggest issue in the world to date. You are looking at history. Look into the future it is becoming darker than the past

Sam says:

09:14pm | 19/12/11

@ mark, I dont enjoy anything in my own country, Australia is built on racism, only white people benefit here, people who open their eyes know the dominate culture use racist tactics to divide the community, all the fear, all the racial steriotyping is done by most but not all aussies, the sustainable human limit was in place before people invaded, at least these people dont use brutal force to enter here, all the hard work was done before invasion, read THE BIGGEST ESTATE ON EARTH to get some knowledge on just how good it was until the land abuser came here, no such thing as opening the country up, that was done already, all your people did was kill for the land, racism is the domain of white europeans, I would like to fight for my country but the FACT is its a racist boys club, it documented of Aboriginals taking their life because they cant escape, and the poor women, I would love to show them how its done like all the Aboriginals forced onpoint with your tough guys hiding behind, racism ha, these guys that fought couldnt even go in the pub, I.may.seem racist but I love all the different cultures, I dont want them to change, I dont like the constant oppression my people have and still deal with, my bad feelings are reationary to ingrain racism, I go shopping with a few thousand and still get mistreated, thats your peoples problem, but you hate anything different, that stems from fear, easy to see the damage coward done,.he wreck this country by playing to the fears of the un-educated, your people have done nothing for me except steal my and my childrens inheritence, P.S. with no treaty aboriginals will be the legal authority of this country, REFUGEES ARE WELCOME, RACIST ARE NOT, we have enough of them. Dont be blinded by the lie the claim to AUS is legal, do get to hung up on english and commonwealth law, it international law that dictates to the aussie government, of the first invaders wernt so racist and igrorant and actualy atempted to make a treaty, Aboriginals would have no rights, but racism overwrote the brain and now this generation are willing to force their children to deal with the mess, mark keep your head in the sand

Mark says:

08:54pm | 21/12/11

@ Sam. The sun never sets on the British empire. Not my beleif, crap forced on me by and you by another culture, we can use history to reduce our future mistakes or live in the grudge of the past and just let the mistakes continue to happen, I have worked in Parks and wildlife and respect Indigenous ways and have many friends who are traditional owners., there way of life was sustainable, men hunted and Ladies gathered. This was natural. This thing of overpoplation is what is rubbing country folk the wrong way, its not sustainable. and respect is a thing you earn not inheret.