Griffith's rally champ and more broken promises

They decided to compete in the 1968 Marathon from London to Sydney,

Harry Firth prepared three Ford Falcon XT GTs,

Griffith's Bruce Hodgson with Doug Rutherford were to crew KAG-003.

Qantas, a team sponsor, airfreighted the cars to England,

Ford Great Britain ridiculed them 'too heavy, too big',

With all the rally gear and even a toilet in the back, they were heavy,

But Harry Firth had the last laugh, they were in fact the perfect rig.

Ford UK entered Lotus Cortinas and Ford Germany the Taurus.

Lovely cars, but a little fragile for such a marathon race.

In Australia, Gunbar was a daylight NSW checkpoint.

Over 2000 people gathered to cheer on their local rally driving ace.

After 25 days, and 16,693 kilometres, the rally finished in Sydney,

The three Aussie Fords all made it, and the teams trophy was theirs to keep.

With Bruce Hodgson and Doug Rutherford's car KAG-003 finishing sixth.

And Hodgson's words were 'three weeks of torture with virtually no sleep'.

What a sad and sorry state we have reached in Australian politics. Last week federal water minister Tanya Plibersek announced a revised version of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, including the return of water buybacks which have historically decimated some rural communities and severely impacted others.

That is why federal and state governments of various persuasions agreed that buybacks had to be a last resort, with no social and economic impacts on our rural citizens and their livelihoods, and this was reinforced only five years ago.

In one foul swoop Minister Plibersek has abandoned this promise to her fellow Australians, in particular those in southern NSW and northern Victoria, who will be the most severely impacted. And for what?

It is well known and documented that the Basin Plan can be completed without buybacks, however, it will need some lateral thinking and would benefit greatly by increased support from South Australia, including end of system infrastructure works and utilising its taxpayer-funded desalination plant.

But it's easier and quicker to buy water from farmers, even though the communities which rely on their production will be sacrificial lambs.

That is not the way Australia used to operate and for those in these affected communities it is a somewhat repugnant example of our current political system and more particularly the individuals who wield power.

With such a lack of empathy for fellow hard working Australians, Ms Plibersek should hang her head in shame.

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