The controversial proposal to split a state in half and create an entirely new one has caused divisions among Australians.

Queensland Nationals Senator Matt Canavan announced in an opinion piece published on August 23 that he wants North Queensland to be a separate state.

Mr Canavan said the creation of a new state only made sense as the population of North Queensland continued to grow rapidly and the needs of the people remained unmet.

“There are now more than a million people living in North Queensland, twice as many as in Tasmania,” he wrote in the Courier Mail.

“North Queensland has 25 per cent more economic output per capita than South Queensland. And yet we are governed by a government focused on 50 cent fares and the Olympics, which are thousands of kilometres away from us.”

He explained that Australia’s founding fathers assumed that future populations would establish new states and that they incorporated this assumption into the Constitution.

Former Queensland Premier Campbell Newman said he liked the idea of ​​separating Brisbane’s “bright inner city” from its regional counterparts.

While Mr Newman was reluctant to support Mr Canavan’s proposal, he said it was worth considering.

Queensland Nationals Senator Matt Canavan has said he wants North Queensland to become a separate state.

Mr Canavan wrote a comment on the issue, explaining that it only made sense as North Queensland has a larger population than Tasmania.

“Queensland is very big and geographically there has always been a feeling in the north that Brisbane is not listening to them,” he told Sky News.

“I know that might sound like more politicians and more government, but I think people in the North actually see it as a liberation from the constraints of people in the South.”

Independent Senator Gerard Rennick, who left the Liberal National Party (LNP) in August, also had “no problems” with the idea of ​​creating a state of North Queensland.

“The regions definitely need more support and a return on the wealth they generate,” he told Daily Mail Australia.

Greens Senator Penny Allman-Payne, who lives in Gladstone, accused the LNP of sowing division.

“Unlike many other regional Queensland senators, I do not pit urban people against regional, rural or remote people, nor do I pick and choose which Queenslanders I fight for,” Senator Allman-Payne said.

“The LNP should stop creating divisions and try to represent the interests of all Queenslanders, no matter who they are or where they live.”

Social media users also reacted sharply to the proposal.

“There we have it – another state that needs billions so that even more politicians can run amok with our taxpayers’ money and spend it without control – God help us,” wrote one.

“This guy has gone crazy, why do we need ANOTHER state,” wrote a second.

Queenslanders are divided on the idea. Some say it is a waste of taxpayers’ money, others think it could help the local population (symbol image).

This idea resonated with rural voters who were tired of feeling excluded and underestimated.

“There is no money in North Queensland. I can’t wait to get rid of (Prime Minister Steven Miles) and his corrupt cronies,” one person said.

“North Queensland should be its own state!”

In his article, Mr Canavan, who lives in Central Queensland, criticised politicians from the city who make up a large proportion of Parliament.

“All our premiers and the prime minister come from the capital cities. When the (National Cabinet) meets, there is no representative from Australia’s regions present,” he wrote.

He explained that the House of Representatives is population-based, which means that two-thirds of its members come from state capitals.

In the Senate, the situation is “even worse,” with more than 80 percent of senators living in capital cities, he added.

He also criticised Anthony Albanese for his joke about its cessation of trade in live sheep on 19 August.

While “thousands of Western Australian farmers are facing ruin,” the Prime Minister is sitting in the box and “laughing about it,” he said.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Mr Canavan for comment.