BROKEN Hill: Where Two-Up is legal year round and a dozen streets are named after minerals.
It’s a vibrant cultural scene that spills across a stunning desert panorama.
Many say its the isolation that makes the Silver City truly a special place.
But sitting 1300 kilometres from Macquarie Street - and with more day-to-day services linked to Adelaide than Sydney - could you blame locals for feeling a little unloved by Macquarie Street from time to time?
It’s not just the tyranny of distance.
Barwon and Parkes, the respective state and federal jurisdictions, are absolutely huge, but the population is sparse. (The North Shore electorate of Willoughby goes into Barwon more than 15,000 times, but has the same number of enrolled voters.)
There is a resignation among small western communities that they’re unable to swing policy or get results in the way that, say, those in North and East Sydney suburbs could. And it’s hard to argue against that.
And so in the spirit of rebuilding trust, the NSW Nationals deserve kudos for heading to Broken Hill for their state conference.
Any hit on attendance figures was surely boosted by the sense of occasion that comes with bringing everyone together such a long way from home.
Delegates stayed for longer and made a real trip of it, injecting more cash into local community, and taking more time to absorb the country hospitality that they will recommend to their mates.
Holding conference out west also fits in with Deputy Premier John Barilaro’s healing mantra.
In his address to conference he talked about drawing a line in the sand, said that the Nationals had apologised for the follies that culminated in the humiliating loss of Orange and Troy Grant’s leadership, and that the state would see a renewed focus on the bush going forward.
The appearance of Premier Gladys Berejiklian, while welcome, also spoke of government’s concern for its fortunes west of the divide, as Labor, and the Shooters, Fishers, and Farmers circle.
And with just two years until the state goes to the polls, the Nationals and Liberals should be well aware a single sugar hit for places like Broken Hill ain’t going to cut it.
A bigger and more important statement will be following through on the promised ‘turbocharging’ of regional areas in the state budget and beyond.