BABY CORDY ONE IN FIVE MILLION

QUEENSLAND’S five millionth citizen may have been born at Townsville Hospital yesterday, with the State Government’s population counter hitting the major milestone just as local doctors brought a new baby into the world.

Charters Towers mum Samantha Kerr gave birth to a baby boy, Cordy Kerr- Kennedy, just after 3pm yesterday – just as the population counter hit five million.

Baby Cordy joins five brothers and one sister, aged between 16 and 4.

According to the Queensland Government Statistician’s Office, the population of Queensland increases by one person every 6 minutes and 22 seconds.

Demographers have hailed the state’s rapid population growth from interstate and international migrants and new births as “a big deal”, with the population expected to double to 10 million by the early to mid- 2060s.

Demographer Mark McCrindle said hitting a population of five million was an important milestone in the state’s growth.

“The 2006 Census shows Queensland had not quite reached the four million mark, and here we are 12 years later and we’ve hit five million,” he said.

“That’s more than 25 per cent growth in little more than a decade, which is very significant.”

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk welcomed Queensland’s five millionth arrival in Parliament yesterday.

“Today is good news for Queensland, it is my happy duty to inform this House of a very special arrival,” she said.

“Everything we do in this House is for that five millionth Queenslander.”