It will take more than the National Party of Australia's new slogan "Nationals for regional Australia" to restore confidence in this party on the NSW North Coast.
Too many people are aware that the Nationals have not abandoned the idea of turning water from east coast rivers inland and more than a few recall the dismal performances of previous local MPs of that ilk. As well as note the politically hypocritical stance of their only federal MP left on the North Coast, Luke Hartsuyker, who only discovered local problems in a big way once he was out of government and incapable of doing anything about our urgent issues.
With so many in the party either outright climate change sceptics or loathe to rock the agricultural vote, the latest federal council held on 21-23 August 2009 has produced little but green wash when it comes to major climate change or environmental policies.
In part because some policy involves decisions taken by the states, such as the zoning of prime agricultural land.
It unanimously rejected the Rudd Government's Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme but offers only vague promises of amendments when it comes to tackling national greenhouse gas emissions.
According to The Daily on Sunday:
Not all of the Nationals federal council's motions received unanimous support.
There was some minor disagreement between members over the student services fee and adopting a policy to support a gross feed-in tariff for small scale renewable energy systems across the nation, something the Greens have been championing in the Senate.
However, despite some discord, both policies were carried.
The federal council continues on Sunday when members will vote on two motions that were deferred due to disagreement on their wording.
Those motions cover protecting prime agricultural land from future mining and forestry developments, and calls for the federal government to conduct a social impact study on its water buyback scheme.
Another motion the party is yet to vote on but has also drawn concern from the regions is the Beale Report's recommendation to the government to allow the importation of foot and mouth disease virus samples into the country for research purposes.
The National Party of Australia (formerly known as the Country Party) did little but mark time during its decade-long term as part of the federal Howard Government and, has been a woeful loyal opposition in the NSW Parliament since under Fahey's leadership it lost power in mid-1995.
Next year the party will celebrate its 90th anniversary. By that time its irrelevance to Australia's coastal regions may be established beyond all doubt.
Too many people are aware that the Nationals have not abandoned the idea of turning water from east coast rivers inland and more than a few recall the dismal performances of previous local MPs of that ilk. As well as note the politically hypocritical stance of their only federal MP left on the North Coast, Luke Hartsuyker, who only discovered local problems in a big way once he was out of government and incapable of doing anything about our urgent issues.
With so many in the party either outright climate change sceptics or loathe to rock the agricultural vote, the latest federal council held on 21-23 August 2009 has produced little but green wash when it comes to major climate change or environmental policies.
In part because some policy involves decisions taken by the states, such as the zoning of prime agricultural land.
It unanimously rejected the Rudd Government's Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme but offers only vague promises of amendments when it comes to tackling national greenhouse gas emissions.
According to The Daily on Sunday:
Not all of the Nationals federal council's motions received unanimous support.
There was some minor disagreement between members over the student services fee and adopting a policy to support a gross feed-in tariff for small scale renewable energy systems across the nation, something the Greens have been championing in the Senate.
However, despite some discord, both policies were carried.
The federal council continues on Sunday when members will vote on two motions that were deferred due to disagreement on their wording.
Those motions cover protecting prime agricultural land from future mining and forestry developments, and calls for the federal government to conduct a social impact study on its water buyback scheme.
Another motion the party is yet to vote on but has also drawn concern from the regions is the Beale Report's recommendation to the government to allow the importation of foot and mouth disease virus samples into the country for research purposes.
The National Party of Australia (formerly known as the Country Party) did little but mark time during its decade-long term as part of the federal Howard Government and, has been a woeful loyal opposition in the NSW Parliament since under Fahey's leadership it lost power in mid-1995.
Next year the party will celebrate its 90th anniversary. By that time its irrelevance to Australia's coastal regions may be established beyond all doubt.
Update:
From Antony Green's post The decline of the Nationals 24 August 2009.
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