The Brisbane Bayside suburb of Wynnum has declared independence today, styling itself as the Republic of Wynnum, and issuing its own passport. Citizenship of the new republic is open to anyone.

A spokesperson for the newly formed republic explained the reasons behind the decision to secede from Brisbane, Queensland and Australia,

“Wynnum is already regarded by most of Brisbane as being another country, so it’s not really that big a leap to actually become one. Although it is Brisbane’s seaside – being the closest beach to the Brisbane CBD – it is right on the edge of the Brisbane City Council area and doesn’t get the attention it deserves.”

“Australia doesn’t have enough interesting small states. Europe has Monaco, Andorra, Liechtenstein, and Wynnum, with a population of around 24,000 is in fact more populous than four existing countries*. With the formation of the Republic of Wynnum Australians will be able to ‘go overseas’ a lot more easily. The Republic of Wynnum’s new slogan says it all – ‘Conveniently close to Australia’”.

The Republic of Wynnum is also issuing its own passport and welcomes new citizens. Citizenship is open to anyone and passports can be applied for and collected at any of the official passport offices in Wynnum, listed on the new country’s website – www.republicofwynnum.org. Prospective citizens can also apply online at https://republicofwynnum.org/passports/. Passports can however only be collected in person at an official passport office.

As the newest nation in the world, the Republic of Wynnum will be inviting all of the delegates at the G20 being held in Brisbane to visit the new country and apply for Wynnum citizenship and pick up their passport.

*Vatican City (pop: 300), Nauru (pop: 13,000), Tuvalu (pop: 12,000), Palau (pop: 20,000) http://geography.about.com/cs/countries/a/smallcountries.htm