Evening Geoff,

Thanks for the email regarding the recent National Party Policy Platform released for 2010 election year.

I have read the Nationals Policy Platform 2010 and my first assessment is a rehash of much the same when they were last in Government. One of their first key objectives is to”Review the zonal taxation allowances and, if appropriate, replace them with a new system, which provides an increased allowance to those living in the most remote location” (National Party Policy Platform page 7, first dot point).

I remember hearing this for the last ten years from the current Federal Member for Kalgoorlie, Barry Haase, who is in coalition with the National Party. The coalition was going to fix the zone allowances and never did in its 12 years in office.

Geoff, in reading the platform its says to me that there is no new thinking from our friends in the National Party. I looked hard in some other keys areas like Indigenous Health and Education. A few dot points, but again very little detail.

Another interesting point is where the National refer to families and what constitutes a family. Families are all mixes now and many of these mixed families do not reside in Perth or our bigger regional centres. Many of these new family structures choose to live in our smaller regional towns, but no where in the platform does it address these families needs. Not all family structures are made up of dad, mum and a couple of children plus cat and dog.

There is also the issue of FIFO for families in cities and the impacts on them. I think the Nationals have again forgotten the people who live in cities like Perth or our regional cities like Geraldton-Greenough or Bunbury.

Lots of rhetoric about Labor failings on every policy impacting on Regional Australia. I think every page had a swipe at Labor but offered no solutions to some big challenges facing us regional Australia and particularly in Durack.

In short a rehash of the previous coalition policies for the past 12 years, no new imagination to make Australia a better place and certainly no idea about how regional Australia will look like in the next 20 or 50 years.

It lacks vision and perhaps they should have listened to their WA National a bit more. I understand that the WA Nationals had very little impact on the policy paper.

The catch phrase is ”think local” I do not see much local about the platform at all.

Just my thoughts and comments.

Regards

Shane Hill