Mr Howard, your people must be re-unified for the good of the country

With regard to mining, Canada actually requires that mining companies spend a proportion of resource revenue where the resources are mined – Australia instead must live with the government-created monster of 'fly-in, fly-out' operations. Declining rural communities of the European Union are assisted to create new industries with innovative use of Information Technology - several reports have recommended such projects for communities here but have been ignored by governments.

Such an ideologically pure application of economic rationalism in Australia is surprising, especially considering its geography and its tradition of 'colonial socialism'. John Howard is similarly something of an enigma, with conservative social policies but a hugely radical agenda of economic 'reform' which again has impacted disproportionately on rural and regional Australia.

Within the government's election platform there is provision to deal with one aspect of the de-regulation 'jaw' of the vice by reforming national competition policy. Similarly, it would be possible to deal with at least part of the over-regulation jaw by the promised inquiry into farmers' property rights (although the handling of the native title issue does not fill farmers with confidence in regard to this). There is also the fact that these matters fall largely within the jurisdiction of the states which could add complications or at least provide a handy let-out.

At any rate, a commitment to dealing with these issues in a meaningful way and a preparedness to look at some creative interventionism to reverse rural decline might go some distance in ending the alienation felt in rural and regional Australia; and it is important that Prime Minister Howard attempt it, because his more city-centric successors probably won't.