I would argue that Australian cities are already too big and country towns already too small to sustain viable rur al communities. We are told that the hope for the bush is in mining, woodchipping and tourism. We are told that reduction of the deficit and a complete overhaul of our system of industrial relations will lead to lower interest rates and make farmers more competitive. Farmers have pushed their land to the limit already in order to be competitive. Many have gone over that limit with disastrous consequences.
Farmers downstream have high water tables and paddocks laid waste by salt.
Landcare groups have mushroomed around Australia, but this awareness, this desire to reverse the degradation of once fertile land, has been a mixed blessing. Governments have seen the emergence of these groups as an opportunity to cut their own services. Meanwhile, landcare groups lose funding for their coordinators in favour of other newer groups with more lengthy and more inventive grant applications. The problems landcare groups seek to address were created over the last 100 years and they will not be solved by short-term fixes. They will not be solved, either, unless farming becomes viable.