IT'S been great to see some focus on regional policies in federal politics this week.
All three new policies came from the Coalition.
The $600 million to fix bridges in rural areas is long overdue and acknowledges the challenges faced by country councils.
Regional shires, plagued by low rates bases, have long struggled with the cost of maintaining their roads and need some assistance.
Of course, the money would be worth nothing if a Coalition Government was to shrink its funding to local councils in other ways.
The commitment of $1 billion to give better educational opportunities to country kids is also a forward-thinking, proactive measure.
The Coalition would appoint a Parliamentary Secretary for regional education and have a regional education unit in the education department.
City kids have better opportunities than country kids and this needs to be addressed immediately.
And funding local councils more directly, by bypassing State Governments, is also a smart idea.
Councils have long complained of shrinking funding and cost shifting by State Governments, forcing them to lift rates charges.
The Coalition has gotten the jump on Labor by announcing these policies.
Meanwhile, the polls were basically unmoved this fortnight.
The Greens were steady with 15 per cent of the primary vote and Labor was still leading by enough to take out the two-party preferred vote 52-48.
However, the two-party preferred result is based on Labor getting 80 per cent of Green preferences and Labor has done little to win Green preferences this time around.
It shelved the emissions trading scheme and the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, showed last election he wasn't about to slow logging of old-growth forest in Tasmania.
Given the vacuum of good environmental policy from Labor and the Coalition, there's a real opportunity here for Opposition Leader Tony Abbott.
The Coalition could make firm policy commitments in this area and convince the Greens that it was the better option for the environment.
Even forcing a split of Green preferences to 50-50 between Labor and the Coalition would be enough to change the election result, based on Monday's poll figures.
