The disparity in services and opportunities north of the tropic of capricorn is shocking. Separation is the only solution
‘The mining royalties collected disproportionately from our region pay for roads to be built in Brisbane.’ Photograph: BeyondImages/Getty Images/iStockphoto
It’s hard for anyone outside of central and northern Queensland to understand why I believe that my region, and the country as a whole, would be better off if we created a seventh state in the commonwealth of Australia.
When I raise the issue with friends or family from outside the region, I, like many other supporters, am often met with a combination of confusion, scepticism and indifference. Because if you haven’t witnessed or been affected by the inequality, it’s difficult to fathom.
Many newcomers to the region are shocked to discover the disparity in services, infrastructure and opportunities but the subject otherwise remains unnoticed and our concerns continue to be rebuffed.
The first motion for separation was considered in the Queensland colonial parliament in 1897. We were ignored then and we are still being ignored today.
Since federation in 1901, five motions have been moved in the Queensland parliament for the people of the north to be given a voice via a referendum. Each and every motion was blocked.
There have been two parliamentary petitions tabled since 2010 pleading for the right to be heard – again, both were ignored. But it gets worse. When Queensland refused to vote to become part of the federation in 1898, an amendment was made to the constitution giving the Queensland parliament the right to appoint senators on a regional basis.
But Queensland never used this provision, and in 1983 the Hawke Labor government passed legislation removing the opportunity altogether.
The result is tragic and the impact is far-reaching, affecting our roads – which are unsafe and flood prone – and our schools, hospitals, energy prices, telecommunications, businesses, industries, infrastructure and everyday way of life.
Our hospital waiting times are longer, with fewer regional patients receiving surgery within the clinically recommended times, and even our bigger hospitals performing below the national averages.
In 2020-21, only 82% of patients at the Townsville University hospital underwent urgent elective surgery within the clinically recommended time, compared with 97% of patients at the Gold Coast University hospital. The national average is 93%.
Two brilliant, modern facilities, training the next generation of doctors, surgeons, specialists and nurses, but one is below average while the other is out-performing its peers. What are the repercussions for our people, our students and the future of healthcare in our region?
In terms of life expectancy, the mean average of the greater Brisbane, Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast and Toowoomba regions combined is more than two years higher than the Cairns, central Queensland, Mackay–Isaac–Whitsunday, Queensland outback and Townsville regions combined. A major contributing factor to these figures is the higher proportion of Indigenous representation across our region.
Nationally, approximately 3% of the population is Indigenous, compared with approximately 10% of Queensland’s population north of the tropic of capricorn. Access to specialised healthcare and geriatric care is severely restricted across the entire region, but our Indigenous communities are plagued by diseases that only thrive in poverty due to woeful lack of resources, leading to a much lower life expectancy. In Doomadgee, for example, life expectancy is just 49 years.
And then there is the infrastructure, water security and energy issues. Sixty per cent of Australia’s rainfall is above the tropic of capricorn, yet only 5% of our major dams are in the same area. Despite Burdekin Dam being the biggest dam in Queensland, it has never generated a single watt of electricity.
We don’t need politicians from the south-east telling us how to live or attacking our lifestyle and our very future
We have no competition for electricity and little support for the development of bioenergy. We pay more to build our houses and more to insure them. Our industries aren’t being supported, they’re being crippled by legislation.
In a nutshell, we are penalised because of where we live. Our people, businesses and industries are suffering while our growth is being hindered by a government that takes more than it gives.
The mining royalties collected disproportionately from our region pay for roads to be built in Brisbane. Our stamp duty is amassed by the only state government in Australia with no upper house and our GST is paid to the commonwealth, only to be distributed back to the same government where it is spent at the discretion of politicians with south-east-centric priorities – with zero oversight.
No wonder south-east Queensland is preparing to host the Olympics while teenagers in Doomadgee are dying from heart disease.
You might wonder why we are in this position. The answer is simple – we are not fairly represented. At a state level, only 17 out of the 93 seats in the Queensland parliament are above the tropic of capricorn and we have no upper house. At a federal level, only three senators are appointed to represent our entire region. And yet Tasmania, which has less than half of our population, has 12 senators fighting for their fair share.
The constitutional pathway to create a new state in central and northern Queensland is clear, but the Queensland government has refused our requests for a commission of inquiry or a referendum. They won’t even consider the reintroduction of an upper house and they refuse to tell us exactly how much GST we pay and how much they invest back into our region.
We know the problem and we have a solution, but how do we create a new state when the problem we are trying to overcome is the very thing preventing us from moving forward? How do we escape the vicious cycle? How can we finally be heard?
In the lead-up to the federal election, the North Queensland State Alliance is appealing to every incumbent and candidate to support our right to have our say. In the same way that the commonwealth determined support for same-sex marriage, we are requesting a statistical survey in the five federal electorates of Leichhardt, Kennedy, Herbert, Dawson and Capricornia.
Not a referendum, not a plebiscite, but a statistical survey. There’s no need for a bill to be introduced or even a vote to take place. The minister responsible for the federal Census and Statistics Act can direct the Australian Bureau of Statistics to administer a survey by legislative instrument tomorrow, but we need the commonwealth behind us to make that happen.
Because we are ready for change. We don’t need politicians from the south-east telling us how to live or attacking our lifestyle and our very future. We are resilient people who have endured many hardships, supporting each other through adversity when our government has failed us.
But the time for apathy is over. We want to be equal partners in the federation. We want the money that is made in our region to be invested back into our region. We want more than our “fair share” – we want growth and opportunities for our future generations.
We want to make the decisions that affect us. Because we are not “rednecks”, as a noted radio host from 3AW in Melbourne once accused us of being, and we know that the economic advantage of decentralisation and competitive federalism will benefit the entire nation.
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