Amy Remeikis reports in the Brisbane Times (15.4.16) on the formation of a working committee of north Queensland MPs and community representatives, looking to seriously advance the idea of a separate state in the north.
‘The push to have Queensland divided into two separate states now has a working committee committed to investigating how North Queensland could become Australia’s seventh state.
‘The Working Group for the Establishment of North Queensland brings together Katter Party MPs at both a state and federal level, as well as LNP federal MP George Christensen, independent state MP Rob Pyne, economists, academics, local stakeholders and business and farming representatives.
‘Launched on Friday, the group plans on “establishing the case as a strong representative body to lay the ground work for a referendum”.
‘”The arguments put up by the State Government that we can’t afford it are an offence. Just the opposite is true. We can’t afford not to,” Federal KAP MP Bob Katter said in a statement.’