A visit to the Queensland town of Mount Morgan today provided Nationals Senator Barnaby Joyce with a classic case of a rural community that would derive great benefit from zonal taxation.

The Mount Morgan community, geographically differential from Rockhampton and Biloela, is currently experiencing 22.3% unemployment.

“Employment in the local area has suffered considerably since the closure the gold mine here in 1981 and mechanisms such as zonal taxation go along way to rejuvenate industries in rural and regional communities such as Mt Morgan,” said Senator Joyce.

“A capping of tax rates in this shire would inspire a broadening of the economic base of the region, improve the quality of life for locals and significantly reduce the burden on the nation’s social security system,” he said.

“Contrary to suggestions by some that individuals could slip through the net under this system by having 100 people claiming against 1500 letter boxes, The Queensland Nationals policy clearly indicates that one must live and work in an area to take advantage of lowered tax arrangements,” Senator Joyce said.

“You might be able to sly dog your way into an address in Mount Morgan for example; however under the Nationals proposal your income stream must also originate from Mount Morgan,” he said.

Senator Joyce and the Queensland Nationals will be pursuing zonal taxation vehemently in the near future as it was a policy directive they took to the last federal election.