Is there a prosperous future for the Australian bush?

It was fortunate that he did not live to see the disintegration of community life on cattle stations when legislation relating to equal pay was implemented by the Whitlam Government.

Despite the fundamental justice intended by that legislation, it destroyed the great contribution that indigenous people made to the cattle industry, and greatly diminished the sense of family that existed between blacks and whites out there in the "Never Never".

Trucks, helicopters and machinery took over the work of the stockmen, whose very heritage had created within them a love and respect for the land. It simply proved that reconciliation still has a long way to go before indigenous people have a genuine partnership with other Australians.

The health problems that Flynn tried to solve are still the greatest defect of life in the bush.

The Flying Doctor is going strong and communications are better, but doctors don't want to live in the bush. Much could be achieved if bush nurses are given more responsibility, although doctors will always strongly defend their medical territory even though they don't want to go bush.

The new Tele-Health - medicine by the Internet - which is being pioneered in places like Armidale, has real potential, but needs greater investment. The tragedy is that most of Flynn's hospitals are now historical ruins. They could easily be restored as general medical centres staffed mainly by nurses with computers.

Doing business with the outside world is still a major problem that the people in the bush have to cope with.

The NBN will help. People in remote communities will be able to start online businesses and communication costs will drop. If housing, education and cultural activities improve, some remote communities could become attractive places to live, offering an interesting change of lifestyle.

Our greatest failure is that we don't have genuine bush universities that can become powerhouses of research and development focussing the unique needs and opportunities that abound in the Inland. At present, we have some city-type universities that have a few country campuses, but the potential of the bush has never been genuinely tested in the entire history of Australia.

When the tumult and the shouting has died and the captains and the kings have departed, in a moment of honesty and objectivity, we will be able to acknowledge that we have a continent of enormous potential, but have developed about 20 per cent of it - a matter about which we should hang our heads in shame.

And I am one who is guilty. I have just studied my investment portfolio and found that too much of it is in companies that ignore the bush. I will progressively change it.

However, I do have shares in the company that is advancing the construction of inland railways. The Surat Basin Railway will be the first cab off the rank in the second half of next year.