Regional and Rural Division

Regional and Rural Australia has been under-represented in national affairs for 100 years.

The Country Party, then the National Party, was set up to leverage the votes of regional and rural people to ensure the development of non-metropolitan Australia. In reality, it has been a spectacular failure. Metropolitan cities are now bulging at the seams while country towns continue to export their kids to the cities. The pattern has remained unchanged for a century.

The key problem has been the inability of the National Party to break ranks with the Liberal Party and demand a reversal in the flow of people and resources from country to city in return for political support.

Until regional and rural Australia can elect a bloc of MPs to reverse the flow, Australia’s cities will continue to overflow while country towns die.

The Regional and Rural Division of The Sensible Centre has one goal – to involve tens of thousands of people across our continent in electing a bloc of MPs to parliaments and councils who will reverse the flow of people and resources from country to city.

To achieve this goal, we will create a political movement of people in regional and rural areas, positioned in the Sensible Centre of Australian life. We will:

1. Develop a movement capable of electing its selected candidates to parliaments and councils across Australia;
2. Develop a policy agenda to drive the movement;
3. Participate in national public discussion to promote and build support for the movement; and
4. Build the leadership and organisational capacity of participants.

To Express your Interest in participating in the Division, go to this form.

For a full outline of the place of Divisions in The Sensible Centre, see our Two Year Plan here.