20 Sep SET NORTH QUEENSLAND FREE – INSTITUTE REPORT FINDS NORTH’S POTENTIAL UNTAPPED

A report released by the Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) only reinforces what we’ve known for years – North Queensland is the engine room of our state’s economy and it deserves the recognition, investment, and development, Katter’s Australian Party (KAP) Leader and Member for Traeger Robbie Katter has said.

“The fact that 60 per cent of Australians recognise the potential of Northern Australia’s importance to or economic future reinforces this,” he said.

“We generate immense wealth and play a critical role for Australia’s future, but we are consistently left out of the decision-making process and ignored by a government who fails to recognise the importance of truly developing and empowering the North.”

Mr Katter said he believed to kickstart development in North Queensland, it needed to become a separate state and have policies that were fit for purpose – changes the KAP had long championed for.

“We don’t just talk about backing the North – we live it, we fight for it. While others have simply pandered to the southern vote, the KAP and I have consistently been the point of difference fighting to secure investments in regional infrastructure, supporting agriculture and defending our natural resources,” the Member for Traeger said.

Mr Katter said although the IPA’s report shows good, growing support for a separate North Queensland state, it highlighted again the failure of Brisbane to comprehend the benefits of greater autonomy for the North.

“People have been fed a steady diet of misinformation from the Brisbane-based parties making people believe that North Queensland is somehow dependent on the South,” Mr Katter said.

“The call for North Queensland statehood is not just about political boundaries; it’s about unshackling the potential that North Queensland has to become an economic powerhouse for Australia.

“The good people of Melbourne and even Perth should be right on our side – when North Queensland thrives, Australia thrives.

“North Queensland’s strength drives this state, yet we’re sidelined by bureaucrats down south. The KAP and I won’t stop fighting for the recognition, autonomy, and investment we deserve.”

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