By JEANINE BIRD
SO the Proud Little Man has quit. A bit too late for the Nats, though, don’t you think? Matt Canavan is now in there as leader, so we might as well wave the Nationals goodbye as they desperately surge along like they’re being carried down with the Queensland floodwaters to gush through the channel country and into Lake Eyre, or out to sea in SA.
Littleproud’s effigy was floated down the Murray River once before, so drowning in a torrent of floodwater when the Nats have done us no favours with the Murray Darling Basin Plan (MDBP) – is probably the flood of poetic justice the Nats need.
Did Sussan think her Leying down would create a One Nation tsunami that would take Littleproud out? Who would have thought?
The Farrer by-election has become a political flash flood. We note that One Nation’s pre-selection meeting in Albury, Sussan Ley’s base, attracted 600 members (of more than three months) from the local region. This fact alone must be putting the wind up the Nats – well, the Uni-Party as a whole, actually. Six hundred One Nation members bother to rock up to a pre-selection meeting in Sussan’s heartland to vote in a candidate to contest Farrer – no wonder Sussan resigned.
This is one hell of an electoral barometer! The barometric pressure on the Nats, and Libs for that matter, is a cyclonic indication that the twister has sucked them up and is now dumping them hard. The Big Wet has washed the scales off the eyes of even their rusted-on supporters.
It’s about time too, because that “bush” loyalty was misplaced for a long time, vested in the Nats when they let the bush down again and again, voting with the UniParty rather than returning the loyalty afforded them.
I stood for the State seat here in ‘91. I thought then that people were sick of the major parties, and I found out later that the Nats thought I was going to win. I was wrong, and it’s taken this long for a wake-up and rebellion.
I was told by a Labor man that the Nats made a point of taking my how to vote cards at the polling booths rather than Nats, but they “did what Nats always do, they went in and voted National.” I’ve never forgotten that – a salient lesson in rusted-on, but repeatedly misplaced loyalty.
That loyalty has been battered and bush-bashed to bits, and here in Farrer and the abundantly productive Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area and wider Riverina, water is a huge issue, and underpins our massive production.
Sussan Ley did dismal naught to stand up for us. She showed no understanding of the UN’s interference in our water sovereignty, didn’t care or kick up a fuss that the international water-grabbers were controlling our water, and was content that our farmers are forced to pay for even the water allocation they don’t receive.
This utter neglect in Farrer to tackle head-on the biggest issue here – the water that undergirds our whole economy, without which there would be no population or industries – has finally been punished. The flow-on effect of this with 600 people turning up to vote for a One Nation pre-selection is retribution.
Water matters, as demonstrated by One Nation members (and as opposed to the Uni-Parties’ top-heavy selection maneuverings) electing David Farley to contest Farrer. I think they got it right. We now have a highly credible candidate who has a deep understanding of the water issues and has lobbied for many years for the Lake Coolah storage/dam – a no-brainer.
It’s a natural depression, that modified, would enable overflow water to be stored and used. But, we mustn’t have too much common sense – the boffins can’t allow that, and their dubious side-benefits would certainly disappear, so it’s been an uphill battle. Farley though, has a track record of fighting for common sense water solutions.
Vision is lacking
We need more vision in Australia, or more will to implement vision. It’s sadly lacking, and it cruels production. Neither the Nats nor the Libs have been any help to us on this, especially in the water and energy spaces, so any deluge resulting in a torrent washing them out to sea is a very welcome storm.
The Libs might be sorry Sussan took her bat and went home, but it’s indicative of the Uniparty’s disrespect for their constituents, as they surf into the sunset with a whopping parliamentary pension provided by the same mug taxpayers they’ve blatently disregarded for so long.
Sussan’s flash-flood overflowed to release a One Nation tsunami that collected David Littleproud and swept him out to sea. Another retiree on a party leader’s pension? Will this create another by-election?
He’s likely to pick up one of those “jobs-for-the-boys” somewhere over the rainbow. I have a cartoon in my head of the Nats assuming leadership and resigning one-by-one until they’ve all gone, having walked away with the party leader’s salary/pension perks.
What matters to Farrer, and possibly the nation down the track, is that David Farley’s been swept in as a solid One Nation candidate who understands agriculture and water.
We need someone who will stand up and kick in the bureaucratic doors of Canberra, someone who can explain to the dumbest of the dumb the basics of life. One Nation’s hung in there to date, despite the dirty politics, and with candidates like David Farley, Malcolm Roberts, Pauline Hanson and the addition of Barnaby to the stable, there might be light at the end of the very long tunnel for a decent rural voice.
But make no mistake, it will be difficult. Labor said first up they wouldn’t run a candidate. I thought they ultimately would, just to preference the Libs/Nats away from One Nation.
Uniparty leader Albo has already called for the Coalition to preference One Nation last. I firmly believed the ALP and Libs/Nats would preference each other, and even the Teal-by-any-other-name, Climate 200 “Independent” Michelle Milthorpe, before One Nation.
I’d be prepared to re-consider that now, because the Nats (and even the Libs), with Littleproud out and Ley gone, might just want to be seen to regain some credibility by pretending they are different, and not tarred with the Uniparty brush. Pigs might fly as the remnant Nats struggle to argue that one at this stage.
We live in interesting times, now the chickens are coming home to roost above the flood-waters. However, We Oughta Vote for Water and David Farley is Farrer’s best bet yet.
