Australian Politician Wants To Start A New State With Rural Victorian And NSW Towns

We have six states and two territories in Australia and that's the way it's been for decades.

But one politician is trying to change things by carving out a new territory involving rural New South Wales and Victoria.

According to News Corp, Liberal Democrats MP Tim Quilty is set to kick off his campaign this week, which has been called Rexit or Regional Exit.

Under his plan, a new 'super state' would be made up of a bunch of regional and rural areas like Ballarat, Bendigo, Mildura, Wodonga, Shepparton, Wagga Wagga, Albury, Orange, Bathurst and Griffith.

Mr Quilty will be doing a tour of several of those cities in an attempt to convince them of his grand scheme, arguing a new state could help them deal with issues.

He reckons many of these areas have been 'overlooked' by the city-based capitals and a super state linking all the regional areas would be amazing.

"The COVID pandemic has shone a very bright and very unfavourable light on our treatment," he told NCA Newswire.

"All of these locations are border regions, a long way from Dan Andrews' focus on Melbourne, and they have all been subject to the destruction of border closures, snap lockdowns and unnecessary COVID restrictions.

"We have not needed these restrictions, the Premier conceded it was easier to lock down the whole state rather than just Melbourne, and we are paying a heavy price for his lazy shortcuts.

"I hope my efforts to demonstrate the benefits of forming our own state will be complemented by Mr Andrews' outstanding work in alienating and insulting 1.6 million regional Victorians."

Mr Quilty first launched his Rexit idea back in 2018 during his maiden speech, however he's now set to get the campaign rolling.

But the thought bubble of combining a bunch of regional towns is just one model he's concocted.

The MP has also flagged the idea of turning Greater Melbourne and Geelong, as well as Greater Sydney, into its own jurisdictions. The remaining areas would then form a massive regional state.

He's hoping to be able to get enough support for a referendum on the topic soon.

He's also been knocked back by one region: Bathurst.

Bathurst Regional Council mayor Bobby Bourke told NCA: "We're not interested in any proposal like that. We're happy with NSW as a state and what Victorians do, they do.

"We've got enough to put up with just the eight states and the last thing Australia wants is another state."

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Topics: Australia

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie is a Trending Journalist at LADbible. His first job was as a newsreader and journalist at the award winning Sydney radio station, Macquarie Radio. He was solely responsible for the content broadcast on multiple stations across Australia when the MH17, Germanwings and AirAsia disasters unfolded. Stewart has covered the conflict in Syria for LADbible, interviewing a doctor on the front line, and has contributed to the hugely successful UOKM8 campaign.

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