Right now, reportedly, we have a new party forming which is trying to call itself 'The Country Party' and it's not hard to see why.

When John Anderson was deputy prime minister and getting flogged by some Liberals who called for the abolition of the diesel fuel rebate, I used to quiz him on why he didn't threaten to walk away from the Coalition.

The Nationals, in fact, have held the balance of power in both the house of reps and the senate for a large part of the time they've been in existence, yet since Black Jack McEwen's Country Party days there's been a mantra of "coalition unity".

There's no doubt the bush has been hard done by in many ways from both state and federal governments in the past 50 years, with figures suggesting 85 per cent of the nation's wealth is created in the regions by less than 20 per cent of the population, with a correspondingly small vote in our civic affairs.

Looking at a major hypothetical, imagine if Julia Gillard's election victory had been achieved not by endless negotiations with two independents, but by promising real benefits to regional Australia and stealing the Nats from the Liberals.

She wouldn't have had to negotiate every piece of legislation with the independents in the lower house and the Greens in the senate.

That's the power the Nationals have had so many times and it's no wonder so many people are upset they've never really utilised it for their country constituents.

I feel sorry for the NSW Coalition, and particularly the Nats, going in to the March election for a number of reasons, including:

Barry O'Farrell dragged his feet for so long and wasted the best two 'honeymoon' years a new government will ever have to make systemic cultural change;

The coal-seam gas issue, and the seeming compliance of the junior partner has isolated huge numbers of rusted-on Nats voters in many areas and given them a new alliance with The Greens.

Many senior bureaucrats loyal to the 16 year run of Labor state governments were given lucrative, extended and unbreakable new contracts on the eve of O'Farrell's election, making them virtually unsackable and hugely increasing the obstacles for the current government to effect real and positive change.

At the end of the day what country people really need is representatives fighting for our rights and needs in the long term.

We need to regenerate our landscapes and revitalise our bush communities and we need governments to help by putting a fair share of the money made from the regions back into the regions.

If the Nats want to stop new parties starting up which threaten to split the vote, they have to listen to what people out here are saying and stand firm against corporate lobbying which determines so many decisions made at all levels of the Liberal party.

Or they could always ask new ALP leader Luke Foley what sort of a deal he'd cut for the bush, being so many seats away from victory he's got nothing to lose.