Expressions of interest will be received until August 30. Potential candidates for National Party preselection should send an email attaching their curriculum vitae and a brief covering letter outlining their professional experience to Jeffrey McCormack, chairman, Eden-Monaro Federal Electorate Council, at jeffrey_mccormack@hotmail.com or call 0401241396 for more details.

Recognising community concern at Australia’s rapid population growth in recent years, and the need for an overarching plan to manage this accelerating issue, the Eden-Monaro Nationals passed a motion at their recent AGM calling for the federal government to establish urgently an interdepartmental task force, with inclusion in the next COAG agenda, to develop an all-of-government population plan for Australia for the next 50 years.

In developing such a plan, government should interact with private industry and private individuals in all sectors of the economy to ensure that any population plan is in touch with real-world requirements and is not developed solely in the isolated cocoon of government bureaucracy.

Planning has commenced for the next meeting of the Goulburn Nationals where one of the topics to be discussed will be the National Energy Guarantee. There is concern that in the modelling, shown in the Department of the Environment’s documents, the source of much of Australia’s abatement is expected to come from the agricultural sector – again. There are some alarming predictions of what this might mean for farmers. Hopefully, the facts will be sorted from the fiction at the meeting – guest speakers, date and place to be announced in the next column.