HAYLEY SORENSEN

It also conveniently ignores Queensland’s long Labor history and the fact the state has elected two consecutive Labor governments.

It was the condescension of those in the south and their lack of concern for people whose lives didn’t mirror theirs that drove a wedge through the country.

The fact the rest of Australia has only now woken up to the fact that Queensland is different is a hallmark of its disrespect. Queensland has always been different – the only jurisdiction where those living outside the capital outnumber its city dwellers.

Barrels of ink will be expended by metro journalists dispatched by their editors to Townsville and to Tambo analyse and philosophise on what makes Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s so-called quiet Australians tick.

I’ll save you the horror of reading their self-indulgent tripe. It came down to maths.

The immediate existential threat to regional Queenslanders posed by having no livelihood outweighed their concern about the future impacts of climate change.

Adani isn’t the saviour of regional Queensland. But it’s the best they’ve got.

They’ve been dudded by consecutive governments who saw the end of the boom coming, but didn’t put in place steps to ease the transition.

“Adani isn’t the saviour of regional Queensland. But it’s the best they’ve got”

There should be a renewable revolution in regional Queensland, but the investment – and the jobs – aren’t there.

That’s the fault of the people in charge, not the people at the coalface.

On Friday, I spoke with Treasurer John Frydenberg at the end of his first week back in a job few thought he would win. I asked him what his plan for the Territory was, further than building a few hundred kilometres of road. A welcome investment, but when you have a 100-year infrastructure deficit, it’s not going to achieve much. He accused me of being “too negative”.

Things were good, he said. Maybe they are in Kooyong. But they aren’t so great in Katherine or Karama.

The NT is to the Coalition what Queensland is to Labor.

It’s time we were treated with some respect.