North must go it alone

AS the Queensland Parliament resumes it is timely to look at what the next three years hold for regional and North Queensland.

The Sunday Mail ( 11/ 2/ 2018) has listed what southeast Queensland, the state within a state, will be getting:

• Cross River Rail ( This alone could pay for an entire upgrade of the Bruce Highway from Rockhampton to Cairns);

• Bruce Highway upgrade from Brisbane to the Sunshine Coast;

• A duplicate M1 highway to the Gold Coast;

• Queens Wharf development;

• Duplicate Brisbane Airport runway; and

• $ 2 billion entertainment precinct at the old Roma St rail yard.

The Sunday Mail did not list any major projects for North Queensland, despite the dire need for health and major infrastructure improvements.

During the last year a new group of passionate regional Queenslanders established a new political organisation called NQ State Party Inc ( NQSP).

NQSP has been established for the purpose of improving the lives of North Queenslanders with the main focus of gaining a referendum for regional and North Queensland voters to establish a new State of North Queensland.

The push for the North to separate from the south, because of neglect, is not new. It was a key issue in the formation of the Commonwealth and motions have been moved in the Queensland Parliament for a new state on five occasions.

The last motion was on September 15, 2016, by Robbie Katter MP.

That motion was for an independent commission to be established to set the boundary for the new state and then the holding of a referendum.

( The idea of an independent commission to establish the boundary used the precedent for the referendum for the new state of New England in NSW in 1967).

The motion moved by Mr Katter was defeated, with 42 members of the ALP voting against it and 28 LNP members also voting against it and 12 abstaining from voting!

In summary, neither the ALP nor the LNP support North Queenslanders having the right to make a decision about our future.

In Queensland there are 93 seats in the parliament, and just 17 of those seats are above the Tropic of Capricorn.

The NQSP intends to run candidates in any of those 17 seats where the existing member does not support a referendum for a new NQ State.

NQSP is apolitical – it is about structural reform, and our brand colour is purple because that is what you get when red ( Labor) and blue ( Liberal) are blended. LUKE HARGREAVES, NQ State member # 52.