We recycle, most of our hot water comes from the sun and we make a lot of our own fun. Lots of visitors, too. The real bush is a different story. In many cases small country towns and villages are losing their population as small businesses and saw mills are 'downsized', banks and petrol stations are 'uneconomic' and farming suffers from low commodity prices and droughts. Agriculture, once a way of life, employs very few people today and in many cases can't feed a family.
Farmers are mostly retail buyers and wholesale sellers - they're between a rock and a hard place.
The decision on drought assistance is made in the cities without the necessary local knowledge and often cuts out too early. The report shows many examples which explain the rural downturn. In Eden a small business has been closing every six weeks 200 jobs have been lost in forestry restructuring. Sawmills and logging contractors have gone out of business. Bega Hospital has been downgraded with the loss of 12 jobs.