While the two major parties continue to to jostle for votes, farmers are still reeling at the loss of the single-desk selling system for wheat. “There needs to be a lot more consultation and some orderly marketing,” said Lockhart farmer and grains industry stalwart Roger Schirmer.

Mr Schirmer is one of many farmers in the Riverina’s heartland grain-growing district who will not forget the scrapping of the single desk by former Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd.

He said the federal government should move to protect

infrastructure including roads and rail to allow rural Australia to function viably.

In all he said there was not enough emphasis on agriculture in the lead-up to the election.

“The bulk of the population live on the east coast, and there aren’t enough votes in the bush to make a big difference to either party,” he said.

Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area (MIA) farmer, Peter Flanagan, “Cuba Trees”, Benerembah said the Murray Darling Basin issue had to be sorted out.

Illabo farmer, Bill Muller, “Nunlong”, said rural Australia needed better access to hospitals and health services. Meanwhile, Mr Muller said the Federal Government needed to move on carbon trading.

“Otherwise we will get hit hard later on.”

Jim Morgan, Lockhart, said the dumping of the single desk had been taken into account when he cast a postal vote earlier this week.

Meanwhile the NSW Farmers Association has thrown its support behind the development of the current national broadband network (NBN).

Association president, Charles Armstrong, says the association policy developed over a number of years has consistently called for quality, affordable and equitable telecommunications which the NBN is proposing to deliver.