Earlier this month Opposition Leader John Key launched the National Party’s Rural Issues Discussion Paper.  Like all such documents it emphasises the important contribution rural New Zealanders make and how the government must support and not hinder rural communities. Most political party’s, with possibly the exception of the Greens who want to replace us with trees, generally say warm and fuzzy things about rural New Zealand when it comes to Election Year. After the polling booths close rural issues are conveniently forgotten or placed in the too hard basket.

Politician’s talk about defending property rights and then weaken them. They promise to reduce compliance costs and red tape and immediately increase them. They support research and development but expect others to actually pay for it, and they promise investment in rural infrastructure but never get around to doing it.

We continue to suffer from a centrist public sector located in Wellington who thinks towns like Kaitaia are ten minutes north of Whangarei because it looks close on the map. They talk about the need for a knowledge economy and the importance of broadband technologies but base their decisions on high population business models not suited to rural communities. They determine and justify their belief that rural residents should pay much more for their telecommunications, power, fuel, roads, and many other necessary services.

Despite all the positive political rhetoric there is a clear policy prejudice against rural communities compared to urban counterparts. The public sector advise rural communities why they cannot receive a service or why they must pay a higher price for its delivery - never in my experience do public policy makers consider equity of access or put any effort in finding ways to deliver services in a fair way.

Whether politicians are genuine or not what remains true is that Wellington based policy makers do not give any attention to rural issues and that these attitudes will continue whether we have a Labour or National led government next year. Simply there is no one seriously looking at how, for a country so reliant on a vibrant rural community, government can genuinely deliver rural improvement.

We have Commission’s for women, the environment, and even for Walking Access over rural land, but never have they considered a Commission for Rural Affairs. The government knows that an independent Commissioner, instead of the current ineffective cabinet controlled Minister of Rural Affairs, would continually highlight and condemn the government for their lack of emphasis on the rural problem.

We need a Commissioner of Rural Affairs to ensure we are treated fairly. Without such a watchdog looking over a governments shoulder nothing will change. So Mr Key, prove how important the rural sector is to the country and promise us an independent Rural Affairs Commissioner to keep you all honest.