A proposal to create new state of North Queensland has been around for decades but momentum is gathering among fed-up Far Northerners who attended the ‘Boot Brisbane’ forum on Wednesday night.
The first State of Origin match for the year did not deter more than 80 supporters from packing the Brother’s club boardroom in Cairns to hear a decisive argument for the north to break away from a decadent south east corner.
A southern border following the Tropic of Capricorn north of Rockhampton would ultimately foster great prosperity for a languishing North Queensland economy.
Katters Australian Party parliamentary representatives, Robbie Katter, Shane Knuth, Nick Dametto and newest recruit Senator Fraser Anning joined Member for Kennedy Bob Katter who held the floor with compelling economic data compiled by Cairns economist Bill Cummings.
Mr Katter said necessary infrastructure had been neglected by successive state and federal governments and there was no alternative but to allow North Queenslanders to govern themselves because much of the State’s economy was generated north of Rockhampton.
“The State Government has committed $7.5 billion – $2 billion for pleasure domes and $5.5 billion for yet another tunnel in Brisbane.
“There’s just no way that a budget of $54 billion can take a hit of $7.5 billion and have something left over for the rest of the state and the further away from Brisbane then the less money you will get. While they’ve got $5 billion to improve their transportation systems, four years ago we did not get a single cent for road improvement in North Queensland except for a roundabout at Port Douglas that was it.
“We got a roundabout at Port Douglas worth half a million dollars and Brisbane got $3 billion for tunnels and this is going to go on.”
Mr Katter accused the governments of failing to understand industry and economic development in the North.
“You are not allowed to use a drop of water for irrigation in North Queensland except if you make outrageous, corrupt payments to political parties – that’s the only way you’ll ever get a drop of water in North Queensland for irrigation and yet, if North Queensland were a separate country we would be the wettest country on earth.
“We’ve got these huge resources and we’re not allowed to use them so we can’t develop. “We’re not allowed to dredge the Port of Cairns; one of most significant tourist destinations in the world.
“Don’t expect any new dams from the State Government for the Tablelands anytime soon.”
Former Mulgrave Councillor Ron Crew explained how Cairns and the hinterland agricultural industry lost $35 million a year due to a lack of infrastructure projects
“The government won’t agree to dredge the port in a reasonable manner, yet we have the largest population adjacent to any port in northern Australia and agriculture can’t expand,” Mr Crew said.
From a legal point of view the creation of a new state was a simple exercise according to Townsville barrister Peter Raffles, one of the first law graduates from JCU in 1991.
Mr Raffles cited a High Court case in 1978 whether the approval of a majority of electors for surrendering a State and the acceptance by the Commonwealth is necessary and the ability of the Queensland Parliament to legislate for the excising of a new State.
“The State Parliament can do it and no referendum is required,” he said.
About time…let’s make it happen…
No distractions here Graeme. The proposal is real and a new state will have a State Bank for development. Too many good people are involved. The new state will have its own constitution approved by a referendum of the people in North Queensland. No Beattie corporations here. Ultimately the legal system will employ the judiciary on merit, not political party lines as the case is now. Judicial officers will be interviewed by a panel of laymen and their appointments will be put in front of the people for a probationary period. If the people decide a State Upper House is required then it will occur.Editor
Right on Rom.
The problem is not many people have an understanding of UNIDROIT!!! Nor the fact that it is foreign Commercial Law of Rome.
Will they restore the Senate?
Will they draft a constitution that restores the “Will” of the People?
Will they publicly rebut the unlawful “Beattie” corporate version of My Gov?
The key thing that People are missing is the word “Party”!
Parties have no room for People, only directives of the leader.
Me thinks they will not!
This is a distraction, People…
The sooner a new Queensland state is established, the better. I live down in the Riverina but have a soft spot for northern Queesland as they “do it hard”.For years I have wondered why more dams haven’t been built to store water for the drought years…but no…thanks to the ignorance of the corrupt Greens….no dams allowed! The last sentence worried me a bit….if State Parliament has a say, will they agree to it? Even though a referendum is not required, …if you had one in what would be he new state, it would carry a lot of weight in the final outcome.
Go the Katter party! Go North Queensland!
This movement to split Queensland is similar to periodic movements in California (USA) where the inland and more rural counties wish to break away from the liberal (“progressive”) coastal urban areas (Los Angeles and San Francisco areas). This dream of a 51st state with more conservative and traditional values is never realized.
Good luck with the efforts in Queensland, but expect much opposition from Brisbane and Canberra.
How long will it take for the proposed New State to come under the duopoly and we have a great big public service taking all the revenue to run it. Such as at present there are a fewin the BOM office in Cairns but the word is there are another 15 being sent, are they loading it already.
Be Careful ,They in Brisbane may bring the Charge of Sedition upon you if it looks like their little Nest Egg may get Raided , The Leader of Qld is Acting like a Megalomaniac and if she doesn’t get what she wants then the Hissy Fits Start.
All politicians of Australia at present are serving the subdivision companies of the US FEDERAL RESERVE, being a private foreign banking system acting through the UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION, and before any talk of being a so called separate state can happen, we must deal with the fact that somehow, such a foreign banking system has usurped itself into Australia rendering all profits from mineral and energy wealth taken from Australia to be going to off shore companies such as the UNITED STATES and its private foreign banking cartel. Politicians don’t seem to want to mention the fact that they serve a foreign bank, being total treason to the people of Australia but want a new state that would not solve the problem of the UNIDROIT Rome private contracting system that WHITLAM signed us up to in 1973, and also the UNITED STATES owned governing entities acting as governing contracting agents for Australia but not acting “as” Australian.
The Constitution states that only the government can coin money so what is the RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA coining money for when it is a foreign owned bank by the Rothschild’s that live in France??? (It can only meant that the US FEDERAL RESERVE is the owner of our government) I think a bit more vigilance is needed by our so called politicians and they should stop serving the UNITED STATES Subdivision companies and start serving the People of Australia…