Newsroom

May 24, 2024

North Queenslanders and the Australian people are being shortchanged by the untapped potential of North Queensland, The Leader of Katter’s Australian Party (KAP), Robbie Katter has declared.

On Wednesday, the KAP leader moved a motion in the Queensland Parliament to take the necessary steps to form a separate state of North Queensland, in accordance with section 124 of the Commonwealth Constitution.

“We are sick of being governed from Brisbane 2,000 kilometres away by southerners with no idea about North Queensland”, Mr Katter said.

“I quote renowned academic Geoffrey Blainey: ‘Australia has created no new state since 1859; the United States in contrast has created close to 20. For a land of this size, we do not have enough states. We thus miss one of the advantages of federalism.’

“Why are we allowing the south east corner of Queensland deny Australia the potential of North Queensland?

“Those down south have no idea where the royalties and revenue that they rely on comes from!

“You only have to look at the vegetation management laws that are imposed on Cape York to see that it’s one rule for the south and another rule for the north.

“The south east corner would be lucky to have more than five or ten percent remnant vegetation, yet the Queensland government says that the potential of the cape must be locked up.

“North Queensland has been continually denied the opportunity to develop, prosper, and contribute to the Nation”, Mr Katter said.

Mr Katter told the Queensland Parliament that Tasmania, with only 530,000 people was blessed with representation from 12 senators, yet the close to one million people of North Queensland are not allocated any.

“Tasmania has a state GDP of $41 Billion, yet North Queensland has a GDP of at least $90 Billion!

“It’s just like the development of the North Queensland Cowboys NRL team.

“Everyone, including the NRL said ‘there aren’t enough people’, there’s not enough economic support’, but look at us now.

“A proud and established club that has a premiership under its belt.

“People try to laugh at me and the KAP when we raise the notion of a North Queensland state, but we are dead serious.

“When I’m at home in North Queensland I don’t hear anything about wanting to dive head long towards emissions targets, host Olympic games, or build more tunnels to get Brisbane workers home five minutes quicker.

“I hear about hard-working North Queenslanders having their industries and communities decimated by ideologically driven Brisbane policy.

“I hear about crumbling infrastructure that is ‘too expensive’ or ‘not a priority’ for the Government.

“I hear about people being forced to leave their communities to seek lifesaving medical treatment.

“This must stop, and the KAP are here to firmly declare that North Queensland must be set free from the shackles of southern rule,” The KAP leader said.