RURAL Australia is now the hottest ticket in town, with Labor and the Coalition realising there is a whole world beyond the tram tracks.
- "The best thing for regional Australia may be a hung parliament, with the three rural independents—Bob Katter, Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott—as kingmakers." – The Weekly Times editorial last Wednesday
But what a painful way for Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott to discover the bush.
The major parties have only themselves to blame for being forced to deal with the three independents and a Green to form government.
Labor and the Liberal-Nationals offered very little to rural Australia in this campaign, instead deciding that western Sydney was the centre of the universe.
That blinkered view has come back to bite them.
Now we have three rural MPs, all with farming backgrounds, brokering a deal as to how Australia is governed.
And with the horse trading under way in Canberra, the hope is that all of rural Australia will benefit, not just three electorates up north.
If the independents can broker deals on telecommunications, health services and infrastructure spending on road and rail, it would be a big win for Victoria.
The sort of protectionism advocated by Bob Katter plays well in his banana-dependent electorate.
His view is that if other countries impose barriers to our exports, then Australia should do the same.
It's a fair enough view, but many farm leaders see such a move akin to unscrambling an egg that could backfire in hard-won international markets.
The real irony from this crazy election is that three former Nationals MPs now hold the key to government.
What is it about the Nationals that the only three independent MPs in Federal Parliament have come from that party? The answer can be found in the word "coalition".
The Weekly Times has long pointed out that the problem with the Liberal- Nationals Coalition is that the senior and more dominant party - the Liberals - will always have the final say.
We have seen it with management investment schemes, food labelling, the dominance of supermarkets and rural telecommunications.
The Nationals have a vastly different view to the Liberals on each of these issues, yet they went to the polls toeing the Liberal line, all in the name of unity.
I suspect there are a few Nationals now ruing the Coalition agreement.
Today, if the Nationals stood as a separate party in Parliament, they would hold the balance of power in the Lower House.
Of course, the Coalition agreement provides the Nationals with resources they otherwise wouldn't have, as well as sheltering them from three-cornered contests with the Liberals in seats they already hold.
The Nationals have always been the party of the bush.
But with the rise of a new rural power - the independents - are we seeing the start of a rural political movement that will one day overshadow the Nationals?
Bob Katter, on his website, provides this sage advice: "And let (former Queensland premier) Bjelke-Petersen have the last words of advice for the rapidly vanishing National Party, `If you don't stand for something then you will fall for anything'."
- Ed Gannon is editor of The Weekly Times
