North Queensland Register
31 May 2012
In a landmark Newspoll conducted for the Institute of Public Affairs, 58 percent of Queenslanders have said that increasing the population of north Australia would be a good thing for the area. Only 19pc said a higher population would be bad for north Australia.
Director of the North Australia Project, John Shipp, said that public opinion across Australia was firmly on the side of a higher population in north Australia, and Queensland was no different.
“Queenslanders know that a prosperous North Australia will benefit the whole country. They want policies put in place that stimulate economic and population growth in under-developed areas,” Mr Shipp said.
The poll asked 1203 people across all states: -Overall, do you think increasing the population of this area would be a good thing for Northern Australia or a bad thing for Northern Australia?”
A majority of respondents in all states and across all age groups said that an increase in population would be a good thing for North Australia:
- 63pc of Australians said a population increase in North Australia would be a good thing
- 58pc in Queensland said a population increase in North Australia would be a good thing
- 71pc in West Australia said a population increase would be a good thing
- 65pc in NSW said a population increase would be a good thing
- 64pc in Victoria said a population increase would be a good thing; and
- 56pc in South Australia said a population increase would be a good thing.