“Is that the right population? Should we try and put more people into the state? That is something I would like to see thrashed out, but having decided that, how then do we see people located in the state? “What seems to be coming through is strong support for having half the population being outside southeast Queensland, so that means that regional Queensland needs to grow from being about 1.7 million to 4 million over the next 30 years and southeast Queensland from 2.8 to 4 million over the next 30 years.” And as the population spreads across the state, Mr Newman envisions the public service going with it. “If people want to see the state pursue this strong regionalisation model, if people want 50 per cent of the state's population to be outside southeast Queensland, then it stands to reason that government must reflect that by delivering services, out in the regions,” he said. “Therefore if that is decided on, I am quite happy to say that the government should commit to a long term plan to have half the public service outside southeast Queensland.”

But the closure of regional government offices under the current efficiencies program was a “completely different kettle of fish”. “We are committed to making this the most efficient state in the nation and there is a program at the moment to deal with the financial problems of this state,” Mr Newman said. “In the long-term though, I think we can plan for half the public service to be outside southeast Queensland and that is a completely different thing.” Moving the public service and strengthening the state's regions was a proposal floated by the previous Labor government. It hit this government's agenda as part of the Queensland Plan summit, where delegates, chosen by state MPs voted on goals they believed should be prioritised to create a “stronger Queensland” by 2043. How to make it happen is now up to the government.

Mr Newman said he had his own ideas about how to make regionalisation a reality, referring to his roots in local government. “I think many councils at the moment don't understand how much influence, indeed authority, that they have to create a great economic future for their regions,” he said. “Many of them seem to think that they are cash strapped and they don't have the resources to do these things. I think we need to educate them on some of the things they can do and the things the government will support.” Mr Newman named Ipswich mayor Paul Pisasale as a role model in that arena, as well as “successive” Townsville administrations. “They didn't just get government handouts, they actually worked hard to encourage business and industry to be there and they built a strong community,” he said.

“I think Townsville is a shining example of what you can do as a local government.” Entering into a joint program with the federal government to establish an immigration policy for the state, “where we actually agree to take people on the basis we will have a joint program where they will be settled in regional Queensland”, was another idea on how to build up the state's regional communities. “And finally it is about jobs and again I go back to mayors and councils,” Mr Newman said. “They have a great op to create jobs in their local government areas they can go out and seize opportunities – if the jobs are there, the communities will grow.”