Victorian MP pushes for a new “super state” between Melbourne and Sydney
A Victorian MP is pushing for the creation of a new “super state” made up of parts of regional Victoria and NSW.
State Liberal Democrats MP for Northern Victoria Tim Quilty is the mastermind behind the project, which has been dubbed “Rexit” for “regional exit”, and first raised the idea in 2018, according to news.com.au.
Quilty’s new “super state” would include Victorian regional centres Ballarat, Bendigo, Mildura, Wodonga and Shepparton alongside NSW town like Wagga Wagga, Albury, Orange, Bathurst and Griffith.
The idea behind the plan is to help curb the social and economic divide between regional and city communities.
“I’ve always believed it should happen, but didn’t think it would happen at the time I gave the speech and, in the last two years, just seeing how the government runs things — they make decisions that impact regions, they aren’t even considered,” Quilty said, according to news.com.au.
“This just shouldn’t happen – it has to happen.”
The MP, who first floated the idea during his first speech to parliament in 2018, said there were a couple of ways the new state could work, with the first being northern regional Victoria combining with southern regional NSW.
The second was to form one state out of the greater Melbourne and Geelong regions, with Sydney becoming its own region, with the rest of regional Victoria and NSW left to form the “super state”.
Quilty plans to begin campaigning for his idea in the next few weeks, hoping to build enough momentum to spark a referendum.
Bathurst Regional Council mayor Bobby Bourke told NewsWire that the town is not interested.
“We’re happy with NSW as a state and what Victorians do, they do,” he said.
“We’ve got enough to put up with just the eight states, and the last thing Australia wants is another state.”
Email the Travel Weekly team at traveldesk@travelweekly.com.au
albury ballarat Bathurst bendigo city Griffith Liberal Democrats mildura new state orange regional towns rexit Shepparton super state Tim Quilty wagga wagga WodongaLatest News
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