Bid for state to fire up

A MAJOR supporter of the push for North Queensland to become a state says there is widespread support for the move.

Speaking at the North Queensland Club in Townsville yesterday, Peter Raffles said the North could split from Queensland within the next two elections, and has done indepth research on the process.

“The people on the street that I talk to say ‘ yeah, let’s do it tomorrow’,” he said.

Mr Raffles said the Townsville City Council’s decision to part- fund construction of an airstrip for Adani’s Carmichael mine was more evidence of the State Government’s lack of investment in the North.

“Why is our council having to spend money on a state infrastructure project like an aerodrome?” he asked.

“Why are we, as local ratepayers, with the money that’s being spent on a rail project in Brisbane or on a $ 1.2 billion desalination plant, funding it?”

Mr Raffles said a common argument against the separate state was that it would result in more government, but he believed it would be less.

“The duplication between state and local government is driving me nuts, so there’s a need to rationalise that,” he said. “We don’t see it as being more government, we see it as an opportunity for better, more applied government.”

Townsville MP Scott Stewart said the topic would long be vigorously debated.

“I don’t think it’s something we’ll see in the near future,” Mr Stewart said. “There’s a very big procedure that we need to go through constitutionally for that to happen.”

Mr Stewart said the move would be much more complicated than simply drawing a line on a map.

“While we might want to be North Queensland, I think the other states might not necessarily feel the same,” he said.

A main concern for most, however, was more important than political leaders, infrastructure and federal representation combined: What would happen to State of Origin? Mr Raffles has a solution. “You play State of Origin where you play your first football, and of course they all play in Queensland, so it will still be Queensland v New South Wales,” he said. “For 20 years it’ll still be the same, but when all the young fellas start to play their first football in the North in 20 years’ time, we’ll have our own State of Origin team.”