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THE Orange by-election put the cat among the political pigeons but it was just an omen of worse to come unless the top two tiers of government realise regional Australia is also part of our nation and demanding a place at the table.
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There's no doubt this was a protest vote — distorted by the involvement of a couple of radio ravers on a mission — but the issues went far deeper than council mergers and greyhounds.
Luke Foley can strut all he likes, he has no real comfort to take from this.
Labor is as much on the nose as the Coalition when it comes to realising life really does exist beyond the Sydney Basin.
While country jobs are going down the gurgler at a proportionately faster rate than the big cities Baird's government handed a lucrative railway contract to Korea just to save a few bucks.
Just as galling in our part of the world is the funding applied to fancier football stadiums while our primary major hospital, Nepean, is bursting at the seams. Priorities?
We don't think so.
Splinter groups like the Shooters and Fishers are not the answer but they do serve a purpose as an outlet for protest votes.
The problem with protests, though, is we risk throwing out the baby with the bath water.
