Smoko: life in the bush; the man in the hat; and no sympathy for Pauline

Hand me my pie and pass the sauce, it's smoko time again! Regular readers may have been disturbed by the absence of your columnist lately. Had I dropped a car on myself? Or did my workmates send me on (another) trip to Coventry? No, this time I've moved there of my own accord, to find myself working at Struggletown Sedans.

So here we are on what the Carr government would have you believe is the wrong side of the Blue Mountains. That's right, my new workmates were incensed at the reaction of Bob Carr and his Tourism Minister's to Joe Hockey's comments about Sydney and the international tourist. A seemingly trivial issue that highlights a much deeper problem. Bob, haven't you learned anything from the One Nation experience? Just because it is dubbed "The Premier State" doesn't mean you get to set the border at Wentworth Falls. On this side of the Great Divide, people are sick of the Sydney-centric government, the Sydney-centric media, and even the Sydney weather reports on the weekend telly.

"There's a lot more to the state than Sydney" thundered Moe, the cranky workshop foreman with a taste for colourful language. "It's all right for Carr to sit there for the next five years in his ivory tower, but if he removed his noggin from Michael Costa's [fundamental orifice], he would find the road to Canberra is not the only highway out of town." Does Moe allude to something we don't know about the Premier's federal intentions?

Speaking of One Notion, a great cheer went up at the news of Pauline Hanson's jailing. This caught me by surprise, as I thought that Struggletown was Hansonist heartland. Larry, our resident larrikin, voiced the opinion of the majority when he said "I don't care about the money, but she cheated me out of my vote."

Moe lifted his head up from the obituaries to disagree. "She was set up to be someone's patsy".

Curly-haired apprentice Joe wanted to know why "If Hanson and (David) Ettridge are in prison, why is (David) Oldfield sitting smug in his seat?" Mate, I wish I had the answer to that one.

Politics is not the consuming topic here that it is in the city workshops. Those in Sydney may ignore the bush but here in Struggletown they reciprocate. The machinations of Canberra rarely get a mention, as the mechanics here are more concerned about getting home to the farm and sowing that barley crop or crutching those lambs. Politics as such varies from being a vague amusement to a downright irritation that gets in the way of living one's life. The scorn for our political leaders has a fury I have not witnessed in the city.

One former leader certainly makes it out here. I ran into 'The Man In The Hat' recently while returning from the pie shop (it was my turn to do the smoko run). Former Deputy PM 'Two-Minute Tim' Fischer was at his most enthusiastic in the ensuing one-sided conversation. "Railways … opportunities … investment … expansion … freight … trade … industry … future … aerospace" he rambled on at a frenetic pace for about 90 seconds before charging off to enthuse at someone else. The man has more energy than the winning Kelpie at the Struggletown Sheepdog Trials! Love your work, Tim, but by my reckoning you owe me at least half a minute.

How do my workmates feel about life here? They are quietly positive about the drought ending, and look forward to more prosperous times but it is a very restrained and cautious optimism. The weather here is a stark reminder of the realities faced in the bush, with a dust storm that eroded gravel roads to bedrock followed the next day by a snowfall. Canberra and Sydney, though both only a few hours away, seem remote, aloof, and distant. The Great Dividing Range is not just a geographical barrier, but a cultural and economic one too.

I'd best get back to work, for there is much to do. You would be amazed at the damage an echidna will do to a modern European import! Cheers, and see you after work for beers.