The Sydney Morning Herald from Sydney, New South Wales, Australia • Page 113

WANTED: Gregarious, outgoing person preferably not female for temporary job. Must be prepared to travel long distances and have interests including forestry, fishing, dairying and tourism. Salary: $42,889. Expenses: $23,010. Rl HAT IS how the advertise-II ment might read for the job of I I Federal MP for Eden-Monaro.

It I I is one of the nine marginal rural I electorates the Federal Minister for Primary Industry, John Kerin, says is crucial to the survival of the Hawke Government at the next Federal election. All that is needed to unseat the sitting ALP member, Jim Snow, is a 2.1 per cent swing to the coalition parties. At that rate, one foot wrong on any major issue afTecting constituents could conceivably cost Snow his job. Like most MPs in marginal seats, Snow, is probably living on borrowed I CO 5 farmers are doing reasonably well at the moment. However, the recent drop in the price for fat lambs has meant some hardship for lamb farmers.

According to grazier Peter Taylor, -z I- 00 i Jim Snow at his Canberra office jr Urinal (J sneep ana oeei cattle tarmers near Cooma are in nowhere near the trouble of the rice farmers in the west of the State or the sugar farmers on the NSW North Coast. "They have their worries, though," Peter Taylor said. "The beef people are worried about the EEC dumping surpluses and the wool people are worried about the wheat people all growing sheep and the sheep numbers going up too quickly. Funnily enough, the farmers around here are more interested in inflation, the exchange rate, the breakdown of the arbitration system all these macro-economic issues. "I have always thought that it's probably because they live close to Canberra where the decisions are being made; they feel close to the Federal scene.

Further away in West Australia or Queensland the farmers feel remote; they think they have little influence." Peter Taylor's family has lived at Nimmitabel, south of Cooma, since his grandfather settled in the area. They have two properties Bobingah and Jettiba totalling 7,000 hectares. Peter and his wife, Anna, have four sons. He is the vice-president of the Livestock and Grain Producers Association and stood unsuccessfully for National Party pre-selection some years ago. However, Peter Taylor doesn't seem to have much time for the party these days.

"I am not sure why they even run at all." He said farmers were also worried about labour costs and, of course, they are opposed to the capital gains tax. "The worst aspect of the capital gains tax, from the farmer's point of view, is Left, Nimmitabel grazier Peter Taylor; top, the 120-year-old Perichoe homestead near Eden; above, Jim Collins of Bega interests of the dairy farmers in Bega, the graziers around Cooma, with the public servants of Queanbeyan or the retired people on the coast. The country is just as diverse, from the slopes of the Monaro to the lush Bega Valley and the beach landscapes at Ulladulla, Batemans Bay, Narooma and Merimbula. Asked about the problems of the electorate, the voters of Eden-Monaro mention local concerns such as health services, transport and the price of petrol. "Make sure you give Jim Snow a bit of stick about the roads down here, will you? They're terrible," said one man from Pericoe, near Bombala.

Roads are a perennial bush complaint. Not many crops are grown in Eden-Monaro but the wool and beef cattle time. Elections for marginal seats are like a game of Russian roulette if you keep playing, the odds are that eventually you will lose. Eden-Monaro has 59,554 registered voters. It has long been regarded as one of the key indicator seats in a Federal election.

The seat often, but not necessarily always, changes hands when governments change. The electorate of Eden-Monaro stretches across the south-east corner of NSW and includes coastal towns from Ulladulla, in the north, to Eden, near the Victorian border. Inland, the major centres are the public service town of Queanbeyan, close to Canberra, the snow-resort centre of Cooma and the dairying region of the Bega Valley. For any local member the challenge is to represent the interests of this diverse electorate. What the fishermen of Eden want is unlikely to coincide with the 40 41.