Governments often overlook the needs of rural and regional Australians, as most of us live in the big cities, and that's where the votes are. It's therefore providential that a handful of regional MPs hold the balance of power in the lower house of the current parliament.
No doubt their pivotal position was instrumental in the appointment of the member for New England, Tony Windsor, to chair the parliamentary committee that is looking into the social and economic impacts of the draft Murray-Darling Basin Plan.
Windsor is proving himself a master negotiator and appears to be a politician of great integrity and tact. Lingering enmities with the Nationals notwithstanding, he looks to have what it takes to inspire confidence and goodwill in those who are aggrieved by the circumstances they face.
He has his work cut out for him in the case of the Murray-Darling Basin irrigators, whose initial response to proposed cuts in water allocation can only be described as juvenile and counterproductive. In a highly symbolic action, protestors acting on their behalf burned copies of the 223 page Guide to the Proposed Basin Plan, in a bonfire on a field adjoining the Yoogali Club at Griffith in southern NSW.
The Plan of the Murray Darling Basin Commission appears to be well researched and presented. But it does represent a serious threat to the livelihood of the irrigators. Previous generations of irrigators established unsustainable practices, and today's irrigators are being forced to pay the price. The cuts aim to ensure that those living in towns and cities dependent upon the Murray-Darling have enough drinking water, and that the ecosystem surrounding the river system survives.
Governments have a responsibility to look after the economic and social needs of the irrigators, and also ensure the sustainability of the Murray-Darling. It is to be hoped that Tony Windsor can persuade the irrigators to enter into respectful negotiations about their future so that hostile actions do not elicit a forceful response from authorities.
Mary MacKillop, who was canonised last night, was a champion of rural and regional Australians. It is worth considering her strategy in the context of the irrigators' struggle for survival.
MacKillop is often depicted as a fighter, a person who is able to marshall forces capable of intimidating her opponents. But she was not thuggishly combative. Instead she was steadfast in her determination to improve the conditions of those marginalised by their remote location or treatment by