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JULY 05, 2024
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Battlelines drawn over Redlynch industrial park
Mitzi face of Cancer Council’s Relay for Life
Broadway hits the stage at Port Douglas
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Thanks a million
Crucial water funding
Calls for separate state as NQ population reaches key figure l DOUGLAS SHIRE
l FAR NORTH | Nick Dalton/Isabella Guzman Gonzalez NEW research shows that the entire North Queensland region, including the Far North, has joined the one million club. According to ABS figures and Adjunct Professor Colin Dwyer, North Queensland – from the tip of Cape York, south as far as Gladstone and into the northwest, including Mt Isa – has topped 1,001,661. North Queensland is the combination of FNQ, northern and north west Queensland, Mackay/Isaac/Whitsundays and Central Queensland, including Rockhampton, Gladstone and Central Highlands. Cairns/FNQ accounts for 265,366 people (4.9 per cent), Central Queensland/Fitzroy 238,231 (4.4 per cent), Mackay/Isaac/Whitsunday 189,643 (3.5 per cent) and Townsville and northwest 308,421 (5.6 per cent), to total 1,001,661. Prof Dwyer said the region had the population to justify the creation of a separate state.
“In 2008 someone asked me to look at a viable northern state. Back then I found some common geographic outlines of a northern state had insufficient population or were economically unviable. “However, there was a viable option. This was a combination of five northern regions including Central Queensland, North Queensland, the northwest and the Far North. “A sufficient population for any new state is important for many reasons. In 2008 my research found NQ’s population was 865,000 and represented 20 per cent of the state. “In 2023 NQ’s population was 1,001,661 residents. This is an important milestone for the north.” For young Innisfail family – nurse Katie Bryant (29), fitter and turner and auxiliary firefighter Raymond Crapelle (31), and AJ Crapelle (10 months) – they’re not sure about a separate state. She said it didn’t make sense that the state was ruled so far away in Brisbane. CONTINUED PAGE 2
| Nick Dalton
Young Innisfail family Raymond Crapelle, 31, Katie Bryant, 29, and AJ Crapelle, 10 months old, enjoy the Far North but wonder about being governed 1700km south. Picture: Collective Leigh Photography
PREPARE FOR BUSHFIRE SEASON NOW
THE Douglas Shire has secured $10 million to draw water from a second source to shore up its future supplies. The shire council has been granted $5m each from the state and federal governments for the $16.4m project to fund a second water supply intake on the Mossman River. Construction is expected to start by May 2025. Douglas Shire Council Mayor Lisa Scomazzon said the money was $10m “our ratepayers don’t have to stump up for”. “I want to thank ministers Plibersek and Butcher and our local member Cynthia Lui for delivering this vital funding,” she said. “This is an important part of our shire’s water security strategy. “We’re ramping up demand management, leak prevention and education activities. This second intake is a critically important piece of the puzzle.” Cr Scomazzon said it had taken some time to secure the funding from both governments. CONTINUED PAGE 3
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