THE CATALYST FOR A SUPER NORTH
NORTHERN Queenslanders will be able to put forward their best case for separating from the rest of the state within the next 25 years.
Demographer Bernard Salt has estimated the northern part of Queensland, stretching from Torres Strait to midway between Gladstone and Mackay, will reach one million people by 2043.
Mr Salt said by then, it would be difficult for the Brisbane-centric State Government to ignore the region’s pleas for self-determination.
“By 2043, in Western Australia, you’ve got barely 75,000 people within 1000km of Perth,” he said.
“You can’t really create a state with that amount, but you can with 700,000. And you sure as hell can with one million. And are a million people really going to take being governed by people 1000km away? “I say no.” He believed a major catalyst for separatism would be southeast Queensland’s bid to host the 2032 Olympics, particularly if it was successful.
“At some point in the 21st century, this issue must surface,” he said.
“And I say that I reckon it will keep coming and going until after the 2032 Olympics, and then it will start in earnest.
“And then in the 2040s, you would have to say ‘it kind of makes sense to create a new state’ – and then we’ll get ‘Quexit’.”
Northern Queenslanders have officially been pushing for a separate state since the late-1800s, starting with a committee of Townsville businessmen.
The movement was then fostered by sugargrowers, but various motions by politicians in state parliament over the past century have either been voted down, or failed to gain any further momentum.
Kennedy MP Bob Katter has been a vocal supporter of northern Queensland seceding from the rest of the state.
The veteran politician said he wasn’t surprised by Mr Salt’s forecast, labelling the region a “paradise” and a drawcard for new residents.
“People want to live here and living accommodation is our greatest industry, but we will kill any Townsville-like development where all you can see are roofs for kilometres,” he said.
“There is no space for a single tree in Townsville; that will never happen in FNQ.”
He believed the region was already in a prime position to separate, pushing the Far North into an even more prosperous position.
“Now, whilst these things are up for debate, if I was a betting man, this is what would be first implemented; the plan for the Kuranda Range Road, and two key overpasses on the northern approaches to Cairns,” he said.
Mr Katter would continue to fight alongside those driving the “Boot Brisbane” campaign.
“I have said endlessly that North Queensland is now in command of five votes,” he said.
“There are five people that are not attached to the Brisbane party system and they are voting as a block.
“The big one of course is the KAP with three seats held on 60-70-80 per cent respectively; good luck trying to knock any of those seats off ….”
James Cook University’s professor of tropical regional development, Allan Dale, is not a supporter of a northern Queensland secession.
He said the region’s economy was already subject to boom-and-bust cycles, which would make it more volatile as a separate state.
“I do, however, strongly believe that we need to make political decision-making in the state and the federation work more effectively for Far North Queensland,” he said. “Australia has a strong governance system, but much more needs to be done to make it work effectively for regions like ours.”
IN THE 2040s YOU WOULD HAVE TO SAY IT KIND OF MAKES SENSE TO CREATE A NEW STATE