Towns are born, and towns die. Behind the Great Dividing Range, towns are on life support. In once-prosperous farming towns, six hours between Melbourne and Sydney, the pubs are shut and weatherboard homes are boarded up.

The rain has come, turning pastures into fields of green. But resentment runs deep: over illegal-clearing prosecutions, net zero, fuel prices, stagnating local economies, and a city-country divide that is stoking distrust about decisions being made in the capitals.

Fewer jobs mean fewer people. Now there aren’t enough of them to staff critical services in regional areas across NSW and Victoria.

“If you bring the people out…

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