I used to be one of those people who wanted to abolish states altogether, since I identify much more with my city than my state, and I felt the rest of Queensland was holding Brisbane back from having a more progressive approach to health, education, justice etc. For their part, people in country areas have long bemoaned being ruled from their nearest capital city.
Then Covid happened, and it was useful to have states with the power to shut their borders to contain the spread of the virus. I realised that there's no way states are going away after that, no matter how ineffective or disdained they are.
So that got me thinking, if people feel their states aren't properly representative of them, is the answer to have more states that are smaller, at least on the east coast where there's the population to support them? Major cities and their surrounds could have laws reflecting the progressive mindset of their residents, and country areas that secede could keep more of the wealth they believe is unjustly taken from them by the major cities (not that I agree with their views, but that's how they seem to look at the world).
But, you might ask, do we really want to carve out a new state and give it as much Senate representation as the existing states have? Not an issue. Section 7 of the constitution says that it's only the original states (at Federation) that are entitled to an equal number of senators. Any new state can be given as few senators as the federal parliament wants them to have. (Interestingly, the constitution also says the Queensland parliament can create its own internal divisions and have each one elect its own senators, but this has never been put into practice).
So where would these new states go? Well, the Mad Katter has been demanding separation for North Queensland for a good while now in his usual cranky manner. As a progressive southern Queenslander, I'd be only too happy to give him what he wants and wish him bon voyage. He can have Mackay and its coalfields too, since they'll be a lot less useful for tax revenue in future as the world switches to renewables.
Another promising candidate I've seen was suggested a few years back by Victorian MP Tim Quilty: Greater Melbourne and Geelong become one state, Greater Sydney (probably including the Central Coast and Illawarra, maybe the Hunter) becomes another state, the remainder of NSW and Victoria merges to become a third state. He has another idea of just merging northern Victoria and southern NSW to be a third state, although this would have a lower population.
What do you think? More states, or is the status quo just fine?
Then Covid happened, and it was useful to have states with the power to shut their borders to contain the spread of the virus. I realised that there's no way states are going away after that, no matter how ineffective or disdained they are.
So that got me thinking, if people feel their states aren't properly representative of them, is the answer to have more states that are smaller, at least on the east coast where there's the population to support them? Major cities and their surrounds could have laws reflecting the progressive mindset of their residents, and country areas that secede could keep more of the wealth they believe is unjustly taken from them by the major cities (not that I agree with their views, but that's how they seem to look at the world).
But, you might ask, do we really want to carve out a new state and give it as much Senate representation as the existing states have? Not an issue. Section 7 of the constitution says that it's only the original states (at Federation) that are entitled to an equal number of senators. Any new state can be given as few senators as the federal parliament wants them to have. (Interestingly, the constitution also says the Queensland parliament can create its own internal divisions and have each one elect its own senators, but this has never been put into practice).
So where would these new states go? Well, the Mad Katter has been demanding separation for North Queensland for a good while now in his usual cranky manner. As a progressive southern Queenslander, I'd be only too happy to give him what he wants and wish him bon voyage. He can have Mackay and its coalfields too, since they'll be a lot less useful for tax revenue in future as the world switches to renewables.
Another promising candidate I've seen was suggested a few years back by Victorian MP Tim Quilty: Greater Melbourne and Geelong become one state, Greater Sydney (probably including the Central Coast and Illawarra, maybe the Hunter) becomes another state, the remainder of NSW and Victoria merges to become a third state. He has another idea of just merging northern Victoria and southern NSW to be a third state, although this would have a lower population.
What do you think? More states, or is the status quo just fine?
