Another interesting idea to come from the rural stream was getting rid of the states to improve efficiency. We have so many levels of government for such a small population.

I’ve noticed in some circles the idea of mentoring is gathering momentum, and it’s good to see the idea spreading across all areas. A friend of mine was a delegate in the rural stream and she said that the idea had come up to partner less successful rural communities with those which had a successful model.

Another good idea was that of having university students work off their HECS via work in rural and regional areas. What a novel take on the old “chuck them in National Service” mantra!

One other idea the friend talked about was the abolition of public liability, which holds a lot of community organisations back due to the cost and red tape involved in insurance and incorporation.

I agree the mentoring program is a good idea. Considering it is available in the cities already it should be rolled out as a matter of course. I have a couple of friends who have benefited in Sydney from the ‘free business mentoring program’ and they speak very highly of their mentors and what they learnt.

I certainly feel this is a good idea what with local, state and federal governments as Dave said for such a small population it is a lot of beaurocracy for no reason.

Also removing state governments will hopefully assist with things like good initatives. For example, South Australia has just ruled they will be phasing out plastic grocery shopping bags and the other states could not agree to this. Surely if we were just under one rulling then a change like this would be brought about nationwide.