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Letter: Bush short-changed on populist rubbish
I read your recent article “Right wing politics destroys the brain” and prior to becoming the NSW Farmers President many years ago, I would have argued against it. However, after close contact with both State and Federal Governments, I know what you have written is 100% correct.
The mechanics of government is very complex, bound by tight law that does not allow the glib nonsense peddled by populists. Thankfully it is usually fact-based, except when politicians occasionally interfere close to elections.
I recall going to Canberra to argue a position for farmers but found bureaucrats who were very informed and knowledgeable about the subject. To get change I had to know my stuff or I was beaten by the detail. They sometimes become bogged down in that detail, but you don’t beat it with populist vague concepts.
The populist stuff does not even rate a mention in Canberra and Sydney parliament houses.
Like most things in life, the answer lies in the centre, not hard right or left bleating, but reasonable, well-thought-through policy. Most Australians are in the centre and if the Coalition gets its act back together again it will capture the centre and become Government again.
The recent Barnaby Joyce train will lose steam as it is less than 10% of voters who will support it close to an election.
The worry is because all the One Nation preferences do not come back to the Coalition, it will help keep Albanese in power for the next term of Government.
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Letter: our health system fails to meet men where they are
Dr Tanvir Kapoor’s comments (“More care for utes than health” 30/11) reflect a much broader systemic failure – not a lack of concern among rural men, but a health system that fails to meet them where they are.
It’s true that young men in the bush will service their utes religiously. They depend on them and understand the consequences of neglect. For health, we’ve never built the same sense of ownership, ease or immediacy. Rural men aren’t avoiding care because they don’t care, they’re avoiding long waits, long drives, and the fear of being judged in small communities.
If we want young men to show up earlier, we must remove friction, normalise help-seeking, and bring care into trusted local environments, the same way rural communities have built acceptance around mental health, farm safety, and road safety over the last decade.
Rural men aren’t disengaged from their health, they’re disengaged from a system that wasn’t designed around the realities of regional life. If you work 12-hour shifts, live 90 minutes from a clinic, and don’t have a GP you know or trust, the idea of “just going in” simply doesn’t reflect how care works outside the cities.
We need to shift from episodic, clinic-centric healthcare to continuity-based, community-embedded models, where care can reach people where they live and work.
The Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) model shows this works, with consistent clinicians, outreach clinics, and place-based trust building. We need to extend these principles across regional Australia so early intervention becomes the norm rather than the exception.
Australia doesn’t have a rural men’s health problem – we have a rural access problem.
The data shows rural men tend to present late, often only to emergency departments, because earlier pathways simply aren’t visible, convenient or consistent.
The next wave of innovation needs to combine trusted clinicians who are seen regularly, not sporadically; local hubs in towns, farms and workplaces where care is easy and discreet;
and connected digital tools to close distance without losing continuity.
When we make care familiar, local and low-friction, men engage. When we don’t, they wait until the crisis hits. Redesigning access is not optional – it’s urgent.
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