Rally to push for NQ state
THE NORTH Queensland separatist movement is set to welcome visiting state MPS with a ruckus, as a rally to push for a referendum gains momentum.
The Separate State of North Queensland movement, led in Townsville by Katter’s Australian Party candidate Nanette Radeck, has locked in seven speakers for the September 3 event outside the Townsville Entertainment & Convention Centre.
Ms Radeck said the movement was “ultimately about the future of North Queensland”.
“And at a grassroots level, it is strongly supported because it is about developing the North and Australia as a consequence,” she said.
Ms Radeck said Dawson MP George Christensen, all three KAP state MPS, Whitsunday MP Jason Costigan, Bill Bates from separatist group Boot Brisbane and Richmond Mayor John Wharton were lined up to speak so far.
The rally, planned to coincide with a historic sitting of state Parliament in Townsville in the first week of September, has already sparked a war of words between separatists and detractors.
Former Herbert MP Ewen Jones, in a letter to the editor earlier this month, rubbished the idea for a separate North Queensland state as an “economic disaster waiting to happen”.
“Our society would be massively in debt and the current State Government free of all responsibility,” he said.
“I get that people feel let down by Brisbane, no matter who is in charge. But the answer cannot be more government.”
Mr Jones said rules of the constitution meant any new state would get only two senators unless changed by a referendum.
But constitution experts, including Emeritus Professor David Flint from the University of Technology Sydney and James Cook University academic Peter Raffles, said Mr Jones was mistaken.
Mr Raffles, an expert in constitutional law, said the State Government should give North Queenslanders a choice.
“We didn’t ask to split the state, what we asked for was choice,” he said.
“Give us our choice.
“We want a commission of inquiry and to let that commission decide if it’s feasible, desirable and what it could be.”
Prof Flint, one of Australia’s most prominent constitutional monarchists and a supporter of a separate North Queensland state, said a separate state would be viable in part due to the size and wealth of the region.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has previously ruled out debating the possibility of a North Queensland state.