One of the positives that came out of my decision to quit radio was that I would no longer have to put up with out-of-town pollies coming into my studio pretending to be remotely interested in our neck of the woods at election times.

Quite a lot has already been said about our local federal hopefuls.

Labor treats us as a joke, Lee Rhiannon does all the talking for the Greens candidate and the others will only serve to convince us to vote for Mark Coulton of the Nationals.

Poor Ms Rhiannon has again resorted to fear mongering on transporting radioactive waste through Dubbo.

Congratulations Mark. Still it would have been nice to see a bit more of a challenge in the options.

In the end would it really make any difference who we chose?

Regional representatives are only lobbyists hoping for some of the leftover scraps.

The other lobbyists, those who can afford to spend millions - think miners - can dispose of leaders and have the rest running scared regardless of the way we vote.

Oddly enough the strongest opposition to the NSW Nationals in future could well come from their current Coalition partners, the Liberals.

Much as the Labor Party instigated their offshoot, Country Labor, Liberal rural and regional MPs in NSW will rebadge themselves as Country Liberal Party after the federal election.

It was to have come into effect on August 5, but then someone called the election and they got cold feet.

Maybe in time we will have a better contest.

And speaking of politicians, I wonder if Mark Latham and ‘serial leaker’ Kevin Rudd will be exchanging Christmas cards this year.

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It seems that a lot of self congratulations are doing the rounds as Ballimore officially opens the taps on their brand new Dubbo-provided water supply scheduled for Saturday August 21, the same day Wongarbon blesses their sewerage scheme.

Morning tea and lunch to be provided by council.

From there on you pay forevermore for something you got free for all those years, just note the increasing water charges in Dubbo.