Raffles to rally separatist push
THE president of NQ State has thrown his hat into a growing ring of candidates ahead of the looming state election; however, the Townsville resident hasn’t decided what seat he will contest.
Peter Raffles said he would run as an independent in a bid to give the North a voice it has never had.
The former Innisfail resident and industrial lawyer has been steering the NQ State group for about six months. It is pushing for the North to separate from the southeast corner.
Mr Raffles said the group needed to establish some “good, strong” policy that could be adopted.
“I fully intend on running as a candidate, as an independent,” he said.
“Whether I win, I know, but I’ll have a go.”
Mr Raffles said while the group was registered with Fair Trading in Queensland, it was not yet registered as a political don’t party. The State Government has previously ruled out allowing North Queenslanders to have a referendum on secession.
There are only four senators in Northern Australia, with just two north of Gladstone.
Mr Raffles, who lives in the seat of Hinchinbrook, said the group had every intention to register as a party.
“We will want to one day but we don’t have 500 members,” he said.
“There’s 60 memberships at the moment.
“There’s probably more who have shown interest and attended meetings. I know one person who’s thinking about running as well.”
The group’s website has reportedly been hacked twice since it was established this year, with Mr Raffles surprised that it had come under fire already.
“We’ve been on this journey for six months,” he said.
“We have members in Mackay, Charters Towers, Bowen and Cairns.
“We’ve done road Mackay.
“We need to get enough momentum so that people think we need to put energy into this ... A lot of energy has been put into this in the past and it’s gone nowhere.
“This is not a revolution, it’s evolution.”
Mr Raffles said where a border would be drawn to establish North Queensland would be decided by the people. trips to