This tricky little election of ours has indeed delivered a bizarre but welcome insight into Australian country life.
And no-one, least of all our country cousins, could ever have predicted such a windfall that, for the first time in a very long time, both left and right of politics are actually listening to a word or two about troubles in the bush.
Thank you Tony Windsor, Rob Oakeshott and Bob Katter for reminding Australians that – yes – people actually do still live “out there”.
Of course the story of the city/country divide is as old as Aesop’s fable and yet it’s still so, well, relevant.
But with the dust barely settled off the $10 billion handshake, it’s concerning that animosity is already growing over the resurrection of the rural vote as some kind of voice of influence in this country.
With it, comes the fear that these bloody bushies are in danger of robbing the Australian taxpayer of funds best spent servicing our bulging urban expanses.
Queue the stereotypes and the slurs: Of country bumpkins forever crying poor. Of the squattocracy calling the shots as they wave their children off to private schools. Of the landed gentry cruising around in their tax-subsidised 4WDs, while city people struggle in deadlocked traffic and train chaos.
As a hick from the sticks, who has lived on both sides of the Great Divide, it would be so simple if the stereotypes were so, well, simple.
Of course, no-one expects city people to understand the intricacies and frustrations of country life. Just as we can’t we expect regional Australians to completely understand the qualities and complications of city life.
The important discussion Australia should be having is not simply a case of costs and numbers – and why one side is more important than the other. But more, it’s a case of fairness and sustainability.
After 30 years of urban centric politics that have seen vital services withdrawn from regional Australia, I’m the first to argue that it’s time for a re-balancing of our nation’s priorities.
It’s true; bushies don’t have a monopoly on suffering. Nor does it appear to me that anyone is suggesting that.
The fact is some of us choose to live where we live. Some of us have no choice. Some of us are just plain ignorant.
And some of us love where we live because we know what’s on the other side - and we wouldn’t have it any other way. And some of us, like me, like to straddle both.
I’ve experienced the pluses and minuses to both. But the reality is for most country folk – that living in the regions does come at a cost – and it’s not tax.
Bugger the platitudes on tyranny of distance and the cost of a phone call. Here are a few little facts.
Country people die younger.
Suicide is a major mental health issue.
Country people are more likely to die of cancer and heart disease.
Why is this important to me? Well, having several family members dealing with cancer and a father with a heart condition does tend to bring it home.
In my hometown of Gunnedah, getting in to see the local GP can quantify a two to three-week wait. Seeing a specialist, even longer.
And if my father needs to have an angiogram, that’s a three to six hour trip to Newcastle or Sydney because if he has a heart attack mid-way through one at the nearest regional hospital, then that’s just “bad luck”. They can’t help him there.
And when the power goes out? Well that’s a call to Port Macquarie – four hour’s drive away.
As for education, well the debate goes on.
Contrary to the stereotype, most country people don’t live on vast stations or farms, or ride lawnmowers that cost as much as a car. They are “townies” – living modest existences not unlike the suburbs, just without the expected city amenities.
And when hard times hit, and they do with monotonous regularity, there are no agricultural subsidies or tax breaks to help them through.
So it’s irritating when I hear the complaints of “wasting” money on the bush because we actually have a lot more in common than we think.
Sure, a hundred years ago, most Australians lived outside capital cities and Australia’s wealth was generated off the sheep’s back.
But back then, most city folk had a country cousin (or twenty) to share stories and understanding.
Times have changed. And every year as we watch Sydney’s sprawl spread ever wider, I have to wonder how long we can sustain this urban ideal without finding solutions beyond the great divide.
City and country don’t necessarily agree on ways and quality of life, but what they do agree on is a collective disillusionment with the political status quo.
And that things do need to change – on a much grander scale.
And what is not helpful is turning the discussion about Australia’s future into a city versus country grudge match.
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