WHEN I was at uni there used to be a saying, that anything more than a pass meant you were trying too hard. In other words, you could still get a degree whether you gained a pass, credit, or pulled out a high distinction.
Some students really worked hard and knuckled down, but at the end of their course they ended up with the same piece of paper as their party-hard friends who weren't terribly conscientious. They did what they had to do to get by.
In many respects, farmers see the Coalition as that student – not because they party hard, but they do what is necessary to get a pass in time for the election.
The Coalition knows it's getting a pass from farmers, but this week's Rural Press survey isn't exactly a glowing endorsement of the Government from the agricultural sector.
Farmers say they are sticking with the Government when they head to the polls, but most are doing so because they don't think Labor will be much better.
Not many farmers are particularly over the moon about the level or standard of representation in Canberra.
Rural seats are by far the safest ones for the Coalition. Ten of the top 15 seats held by the Coalition are farming seats with margins between 15.5 and 24.8 per cent.
Yet results from the poll reveal more than 41.7 per cent of farmers think current political representation of country people is "average" – basically a pass.
Only 22.1pc have given them a "good" response, and 21.9pc actually think its poor, and 11.4pc think it's very poor.
Consider this alongside what farmers think the big issues are, compared to what Canberra has been saying the big issues are.
Health remains a number one priority for farmers in Australia, yet in the past 10 years there's certainly been no lift in the level of service, and more than half the maternity wards across the bush have closed in a decade.
It's no wonder a few farmers nodded in agreement when the Government stepped in to save a regional hospital in Tasmania. I bet many were thinking they wouldn't mind a bit of that help in their own towns.
We've just seen all the palaver and hype surrounding the APEC leaders' week, yet trade reform is the least important issue for farmers, or considered a top election issue by only 1.7pc of the farm sector.
Wheat marketing too did its bit to split the coalition and the farm lobby to some extent, yet only 2.1pc of farmers say it's the one issue they consider most important when they have to vote.
Would that result have been different if the desk was lost, and export wheat marketing was deregulated?
By focusing on issues of little importance, and pushing aside the problems like health which have been a long-running ailment in the bush, the Government can't expect any pass with flying colours from farmers.
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