Peter Leith is never short of a comment or observation and offers the following opinion of what he says has become of the Country/National Party.
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Every serious student of strine would surely agree that one of its most apt sayings is that after the lord mayor’s procession comes the dunny cart.
This immortal Aussie phrase came readily to mind in thinking about what has happened – and is happening – to the Country/National Party in Australia.
In my 70-plus years of adult life in this blessed land, I have watched the tragic metamorphosis of the once proud and independent Country Party into the self-seeking sycophancy of the now so-called National Party.
Many of you can remember the names: Arthur Fadden, Earle Page, Archie Cameron, John McEwen, Doug Anthony, Ian Sinclair, Tim Fischer, John Anderson …
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They were men to whom the words, Country Party, meant first Australia as a ‘country’, a ‘nation’, and next came the wellbeing of rural Australia on which so much of the nation depends for its very survival to this day.
The Country Party was not ashamed and made no secret of representing the interests of the bush – and why should it?
Without the bush, without the very land on which we live, Australia has a limited future.
Now, we have just witnessed the self-styled National Party reappointing Barnaby Joyce as its leader! How far has this once mighty party fallen?
With its vast, underpopulated spaces, Australia – if it conserves its water resources – will remain one of the ‘bread baskets’ of the world, long after coal is no longer mined and other fossil-fuel resources exhausted.
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Australia needs and, indeed, must have a political party with the will to support, develop and protect the natural resources of this great land.
The National Party of today is not working in the long-term national interests. It has, irrevocably, identified with the ‘dig it up and ship it out’ policies of its big brother in the Coalition.
Once you have dug it up and shipped it out, it will not grow again.
If, as it would like to be, the Liberal Party is indeed ‘the lord mayor’s procession’, the Country Party has the National Party dunny cart.
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Do you agree with Peter Leith’s assessment of the Country Party? Did the National Party do the right thing in re-electing Barnaby Joyce as its leader? Why not share your thoughts in the comments section below?
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