Thats exactly right Barboris, nearly all the wealth this country...

Thats exactly right Barboris, nearly all the wealth this country has is produced outside the cities.
The cities are full of shiny bumed consumers and very few producers of anything valuable.
Rural Australia has woken up and are demanding the same services as the city folk and the city folk who have been carried by rural folk for so long don't like it.
The bean counters also don't like it because to supply equivalent services to rural areas means government subsidies because where the population is so spread out there is no profit to be made by providers otherwise.

I have seen a few on HC post that market forces will sort it out well that is simply not the case. If it was left to market forces there would be no rural telecommunications, few roads or railways, hospitals etc etc outside the cities. OK lets do that...then sit back and watch as more rural people move to the cities for the easy life and the shops start running out of milk etc because there is nobody left to milk the cows etc.

Dave R.