MP pushes for region to be split

THE Northern Rivers will be split in two, with towns such as Byron Bay, Kyogle, Mullumbimby, and Nimbin moving to Queensland, while places such as Lismore, Casino, Ballina, The Channon, and Suffolk Park remain in NSW under a plan by North Queensland independent MP Bob Katter.

The split is part of a wider redrawing of state borders proposed by Mr Katter, which includes creating a new state of North Queensland, handing a big chunk of the Northern Territory to an expanded South Australia, and a rebranding of the Top End as North Western Australia as another new state that takes out the northern end of Western Australia.

The renamed ‘South Queensland’ would extend from Bundaberg south to Byron Bay, creating the Northern Rivers split.

Mr Katter’s argument is that the new division of state boundaries would let Australia better exploit its natural resources, improve farming in the north, and would accommodate an extra 100,000 people.

The idea would have to go to a referendum and is unlikely to ever see the light of day. It’s worth noting that the idea – although raised by the Kennedy MP as recently as last week – did not make his list of 20 ‘priorities’ handed to Labor and the Coalition on Thursday.

Another thing standing in the way of any attempt to split up the Northern Rivers, aside from tens of thousands of potentially angry Blues supporters suddenly finding themselves on the wrong side of the new border, is Jim Belshaw.

Mr Belshaw, now living in Sydney but originally from Armidale, more or less leads what remains of the New England New State Movement, which has been running in various shapes and guises and at varying strength for about 150 years – ever since the separation of Queensland from the colony of NSW.

Between 1920 and 1970 the push to create a State of New England covering much of north-east NSW was subject to two royal commissions and,in 1967, a narrowly-lost non-binding plebiscite.

The movement was closely bound with the formation of the Country Party – now The Nationals – and included the party’s co-founder Sir Earle Page among its leaders during the 1920s.

The ‘state’ has its own flag, a Scottish lion on a blue background created after 1922, and even an anthem, Battle Song of New England, written by Ulrich Ellis and arranged by Joy Harvey between 1950 and 1959.

The capital of the new state would most likely have been Armidale, although a song written for the University of New England student review in the 1960s also named Tamworth, Bendameer and Grafton (‘the place where they make beer’) as potential sites for a parliament of New England.

Mr Belshaw said the movement lost steam after the 1967 plebiscite. However that vote, which covered the area that would have fit within the new state, was broadly supported in the north – particularly on the Northern Rivers.

Mr Belshaw, who was closely involved with the plebiscite and worked as an usher at the Armidale convention held ahead of it, said the vote was lost in the dairy farming communities of Maitland, which enjoyed preferential status in the Sydney dairy market, and Newcastle where the Labor Party ran a hard campaign against the movement.

Interestingly, it is in that area the nascent beginnings of a revitalised New England New State Movement are now forming. Mr Belshaw said discontent over mining revenue being taken from the Hunter had formed the trigger for the new movement, which officially kicked off at Hamilton last month with a meeting of seven people from Armidale, Wangi Wangi, Eleebana, Kurri Kurri, and Wollombi Valley.

While the movement’s latest iteration might sympathise with Bob Katter’s plans to redraw state boundaries, it wouldn’t be happy with handing a slab of the Northern Rivers to Queensland – although Mr Belshaw said that was ultimately a matter for the people in those communities to decide.

Mr Belshaw said the Richmond, Clarence and Tweed valleys shared a close cultural and historic connection and, as a region, shared a similar connection with the Tablelands to the west.

“If you go back to before the huge population growth that came after the 1980s, the linkages were much clearer,” he said. “The North Coast was the playground of the Tablelands and the Western Slopes. The family and historical linkages are just laid on top of each other,” he said.

In those days the regions shared institutions as much as they shared people.

Mr Belshaw said the University of New England played a major role in supporting the Lismore-based Richmond River Historical Society when it formed.

Southern Cross University politics expert Ros Irwin said moving to create a new state was a relatively simple matter. However, in reality it was almost impossible.

To create a new state, such as New England, required a referendum and Australia’s history of rejecting referenda made that a big ask.

Mr Belshaw said the referendum would only need to be done at state level, because it did not involve a change to the Federal constitution.

However Mr Katter’s plan, which involved completely changing state boundaries, might be more difficult.

Dr Irwin noted the wider debate about creating new states, like the reviving New England push, appeared to be bedded in the resources sector and anger about mining revenues being taken from communities.