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The Libs' coalition partner. the Nats (Nationals) is a rural Conservative political party which claims to represent "weather board and iron roofs" according to its leader Barnaby Joyce but in fact it the party of rural wealth and always has been. In 1910 when the first Labor government was elected the thing that united the city and country conservatives was their shared opposition to organised labour (Unions). The Shearers' strikes of the years preceding had forced graziers to provide better wages and working conditions to the people who did the real work but who suffered appalling working environments in so doing. That was the Nats' first industrial gripe and we are still seeing the same behaviour today with fruit picking. "Weatherboard and iron"? I don't think so.
The Nats vote is akin to that of the Greens but whereas the Greens have one seat in the Reps the Nats have about 11 - go figure - a gerrymander if ever there was one.
The Nats enjoy the support of the country mugs who get little in return but are easily diverted by anti "Greenie" propaganda and a dumb sense of a shared experience with the rural landed gentry but it is also strongly bankrolled by Miners, Developers and Corporate farming. These are the people whom they really represent and they are anti environment and anti worker.
The glory days of the Nats are well behind them but there is a deep yearning to return to the Taxpayers' tit on the scale of yesteryear. After WW1 the conservative governments hit on the rort of "Food Security" as a prerequisite to National Security. Accordingly an ocean of taxpayers' money was spent on infrastructure - rail, roads, dams, silos and and whole catalogues of subsidies to graziers. Government "Boards" were also set up to guarantee prices for produce - The Wheat Board, Wool Board etc. That meant that the taxpayer picked up the tab for everything that constituted a huge capital cost or possible losses leaving the big profits to the gentry. No wonder they were able to buy up half of Darling Point for their digs when in the big smoke. It was a case of socialising the losses and privatising the profits. It was rural socialism in effect.
These days they are the ones thwarting meaningful action on climate change and any other environmental action for that matter. They are leeches, whingers and rent seekers of the most egregious kind and always have been.
The Nats vote is akin to that of the Greens but whereas the Greens have one seat in the Reps the Nats have about 11 - go figure - a gerrymander if ever there was one.
The Nats enjoy the support of the country mugs who get little in return but are easily diverted by anti "Greenie" propaganda and a dumb sense of a shared experience with the rural landed gentry but it is also strongly bankrolled by Miners, Developers and Corporate farming. These are the people whom they really represent and they are anti environment and anti worker.
The glory days of the Nats are well behind them but there is a deep yearning to return to the Taxpayers' tit on the scale of yesteryear. After WW1 the conservative governments hit on the rort of "Food Security" as a prerequisite to National Security. Accordingly an ocean of taxpayers' money was spent on infrastructure - rail, roads, dams, silos and and whole catalogues of subsidies to graziers. Government "Boards" were also set up to guarantee prices for produce - The Wheat Board, Wool Board etc. That meant that the taxpayer picked up the tab for everything that constituted a huge capital cost or possible losses leaving the big profits to the gentry. No wonder they were able to buy up half of Darling Point for their digs when in the big smoke. It was a case of socialising the losses and privatising the profits. It was rural socialism in effect.
These days they are the ones thwarting meaningful action on climate change and any other environmental action for that matter. They are leeches, whingers and rent seekers of the most egregious kind and always have been.
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