So you think that next year's federal election campaign will be just like other federal election campaigns in the Northern Rivers region? Not if those sitting on the Opposition benches in the Australian Parliament have their way

October 2023 found many adults in the est. 315,775-strong resident population of the NSW Northern Rivers region eager to believe the misinformation, misdirection and downright politically-inspired lies and racial slurs being put about by the Liberal-National Party Coalition and Advance Australia for much of that year.

So much so that 62.32% of all of Northern Rivers voters felt comfortable at the national referendum to metaphorically spit in the faces of est.14,879 other Northern Rivers residents whose ancestors had lived in Australia for at least the last 40,000 years.

For that 62.23% life seemingly went on as before after the referendum vote. With no thought that they themselves, except for their barely disguised animosity towards First Nations peoples, were not the homogeneous group they thought themselves to be.

For the last national census revealed that 40,240 people who were living in Northern Rivers region were born overseas and 12% had only arrived in Australia within the 5 years prior to 2021.

In fact the Northern Rivers resident population contains migrants from over 90 different counties around the globe, speaking at least 50 different languages other than English in their homes.

Now the success of the negative divisive "No" campaign in the lead up to that national referendum vote appears to have encouraged the Liberal-Nationals Coalition to contemplate a national campaign along similar disruptive lines for the federal general election due next year.

However, based on the performance of the Opposition in Parliament and elsewhere, this time the bogey man employed is likely to be 'migrants'.

 It will be migrants who will be held responsible for the high house prices, rising rental costs, increased cost of living pressures and spike in domestic violence in Australia. With the Labor Party solely responsible for their supposedly increasingly high numbers, including an unspecified number of allegedly violent asylum seekers who have been left to roam at will.

So now, instead of being encouraged to hate on est.14,879 of their fellow community members, the Coalition and Advance Australia will be encouraging Northern Rivers voters to hate on up to 40,240 of their neighbours and work colleagues. To form a negative opinion on those community members who come from a non-English speaking background and, in particular on the over 4,000 who only arrived in Australia during the last seven years.

If as many people living in the two federal electorates covering the Northern Rivers region again embrace the thinly disguised racist rhetoric of another 'fear' campaign, then we are all in for yet another sustained attack on social cohesion and local community spirit by the Liberal-Nationals Coalition, supported by Advance Australia and other shadowy pressure groups.