NORTH Queensland must become a separate state now or its wealth will forever be lost to the population growth-hungry southeast corner, NQ mayors say.
They will next month ask their counterparts across the state to give them vital support for a referendum to be held on the issue at the next state election in 2012.
The idea has been floated before, but this time the mayors say they must be successful.
Just two of 100 delegates voted against the motion at a recent NQ Local Government Association meeting.
Backers including Richmond Shire Mayor John Wharton, Hinchinbrook Shire Mayor Pino Giandomenico, Mount Isa Mayor John Molony and Independent Federal MP for Kennedy Bob Katter hope for a similar reaction when they put the motion to the annual LGAQ conference next month.
“We just need a spark to ignite the fuse,” Mr Katter said. http://www.bobkatter.com.au/
And this front page story in the Brisbane Courier Mail has certainly ignited that fuse, with 138 comments by 12 noon (214 in total). And consistent with previous feedback whenever this issue has been raised, many respondents just wanted to give the SE Corner of the state back to NSW so the “real Queenslanders” could get on with running their own affairs.
Update 1 10/08/2020
Both the story, and the responses to it, have an entirely different complexion on the news.com site. Most space was given to those who spoke against the idea. Even the headline trivialised the issue with questions about a weakened Queensland loseing the state of origin football. Foremost among the sneerers was Qld Deputy Premier, (and Minister for failed health services) Paul Lucas, who could only come up with the moronic claim that Cairns and Townsville could never agree on where the capital would be. If he had a mind capable of anything more than a simplistic, yes/no binary function, he would have realised that a new capital half way between the two would have easily solved that problem. In fact, if he had a rudimentary grasp of Australian history he would have known that this is how Sydney and Melbourne solved the same problem 110 years ago. A new capital half way between the two cities would ensure that government funds circulated beyond both cities.
It is also worth noting the high portion of out of state respondents who are blissfully ignorant of the fact that most of the additional funding that Queensland gets at the expense of the other states is to compensate Brisbane for the cost of long distance service delivery. It has not dawned on them, yet, that the cost for a regional capital to deliver the same service just up the road is substantially less. They also seem blissfully ignorant of the substantial DISECONOMIES OF SCALE that beset the existing metropolitan governments.
But that is what we are dealing with here. They winge about gross urban congestion but continue to believe that bigger and bigger governments produce more efficient government service delivery.
See also http://newenglandaustralia.blogspot.com/2010/08/pressure-for-north-queensland-state.html
And see what Bernard Salt has to say http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2010/08/10/2978401.htm
Update 2 11/08/2010 Bligh rules out referendum on splitting the state http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/bligh-rules-out-referendum-on-splitting-the-state/story-e6freoof-1225903626560
This metrocentric Premier has casually deprived over a million people the right to exercise one of the key human rights enshrined in the UN Charter. And despite the fact that she swore an oath of office to “well and trully serve” all Queenslanders, not just those who elected her, neither she, nor any of the urban public, have batted an eyelid.
