States and territories of Australia

Australian states and territories
A clickable map of Australia's states, mainland territories and their capitals
Category	Federated states (6) Internal federal territories (3) External federal territories (7)
Location	Commonwealth of Australia
Populations	0 (Ashmore and Cartier Islands, Heard and McDonald Islands) – 7,704,300 (New South Wales)
Areas	10 km2 (3.9 sq mi) (Coral Sea Islands) – 5,896,500 km2 (2,276,700 sq mi) (Australian Antarctic Territory)
Subdivisions	Local government areas Cadastral divisions

Australia (officially known as the Commonwealth of Australia) is a federation of six states, together with ten federal territories. The Australian mainland consists of five of the six federated states and three of the federal territories (the "internal" territories). The state of Tasmania is an island about 200 kilometres (120 mi) south of the mainland. The remaining seven territories are classified for some purposes as "external" territories. Aside from the Australian Antarctic Territory, which is Australia's claim to part of Antarctica, Australia is the world's sixth-largest country by total area.

All states and the two largest internal territories are partially self-governing, as well as being represented in the federal parliament; the other territories are administered by the federal government. Since 2015, federal control has also been extended to the formerly self-governing territory of Norfolk Island.^[1] The third internal territory is the Jervis Bay Territory (JBT) which is on the coast of New South Wales south of Sydney and east of Canberra. Three of the external territories are inhabited; the others are uninhabited, apart from temporary-resident scientists.

Geographic Australia

The term geographic Australia is used by the Australian government to describe the area covered by demographic statistics such as national population figures. This area comprises Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands in addition to the six states and three mainland territories; Norfolk Island is the only territory with a permanent population that is not part of geographic Australia.^[2]

States, territories, and external territories

Reference map for states and territories of Australia

States and territories of Australia^{[n 1]}

Flag	State/territory name	Abbrev	ISO[3]	Postal	Type	Capital (or largest settlement)	Population[4][5]	Area (km²)[6]
	New South Wales	NSW	AU-NSW	NSW	State	Sydney	7006770430000000000♠7,704,300	800,628
	Queensland	Qld	AU-QLD	QLD	State	Brisbane	7006482700000000000♠4,827,000	1,723,936
	South Australia	SA	AU-SA	SA	State	Adelaide	7006170650000000000♠1,706,500	978,810
	Tasmania	Tas	AU-TAS	TAS	State	Hobart	7005518500000000000♠518,500	64,519
	Victoria	Vic	AU-VIC	VIC	State	Melbourne	7006603910000000000♠6,039,100	227,010
	Western Australia	WA	AU-WA	WA	State	Perth[n 2]	7006261370000000000♠2,613,700	2,526,786
	Australian Capital Territory	ACT	AU-ACT	ACT	Territory	Canberra	7005397397000000000♠397,397	2,280
[n 3]	Jervis Bay Territory	JBT		JBT	Territory	(Jervis Bay Village)	7002391000000000000♠391	72
	Northern Territory	NT	AU-NT	NT	Territory	Darwin	7005244000000000000♠244,000	1,335,742
[n 3]	Ashmore and Cartier Islands				External	(Offshore anchorage)	5000000000000000000♠0	199
[n 3]	Australian Antarctic Territory	AAT	AQ[n 4]		External	Davis Station	7003100000000000000♠1,000[n 5]	5,896,500
	Christmas Island		CX		External[n 6]	Flying Fish Cove	7003207200000000000♠2,072	135
	Cocos (Keeling) Islands		CC		External[n 6]	West Island/Pulu Panjang	7002596000000000000♠596	14
[n 3]	Coral Sea Islands				External	(Willis Island)	7000400000000000000♠4[n 7]	10
[n 3]	Heard Island and McDonald Islands	HIMI	HM		External	(Atlas Cove)	5000000000000000000♠0	372
	Norfolk Island		NF		External	Kingston	7003230200000000000♠2,302	35

All states, (internal) territories and the external territory of Coral Sea Islands were part of Australia at federation and are constitutionally part of the Commonwealth. Northern Territory was part of South Australia, Australian Capital Territory and Jervis Bay Territory were part of New South Wales, and Coral Sea Islands was part of Queensland. Ashmore and Cartier Islands was accepted by Australia in 1934^[7] and annexed to Northern Territory prior to the adoption of the Statute of Westminster in 1942 and, as such, is deemed to form part of Australia proper.

Cocos (Keeling) Islands voted for integration in 1984. Together with Christmas Island, Commonwealth laws apply automatically to the territory unless expressly stated otherwise^[8] and residents of both external territories are associated with Northern Territory for federal elections. They are, thus, constitutionally part of Australia.

Uninhabited Heard and McDonald Island is treated as constitutionally part of Australia by the central government.^[9]

The constitutional status of the Australian Antarctic Territory is unclear, with successive governments treating it either as a separate territory (as in the United Kingdom and Norway) or an integral part of the state (as in New Zealand and France). As of 2018, the present government appears to take the view that it is not constitutionally part of Australia.^[10]

Norfolk Island's status is controversial, with the present (as of 2018) government taking measures to integrate the territory into Australia proper (including representation in parliament and compulsory voting). The Norfolk Islanders have not formally consented to this change in constitutional status and assert that they are not Australian.^[11]

Background and overview

The states originated as separate British colonies prior to Federation in 1901. The Colony of New South Wales was founded in 1788 and originally comprised much of the Australian mainland, as well as Lord Howe Island, New Zealand, Norfolk Island, and Van Diemen's Land, in addition to the area currently referred to as the state of New South Wales. During the 19th century, large areas were successively separated to form the Colony of Tasmania (initially established as a separate colony named Van Diemen's Land in 1825), the Colony of Western Australia (initially established as the smaller Swan River Colony in 1829), the Province of South Australia (1836), the Colony of New Zealand (1840),^[13] the Victoria Colony (1851) and the Colony of Queensland (1859). Upon Federation, the six colonies of New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia, and Tasmania became the founding states of the new Commonwealth of Australia.

Legislative powers of the states are protected by the Australian constitution, section 107, and under the principle of federalism Commonwealth legislation only applies to the states where permitted by the constitution. The territories, by contrast, are from a constitutional perspective directly subject to the Commonwealth Government; laws for territories are determined by the Australian Parliament.^[14]

Most of the territories are directly administered by the Commonwealth Government, while two (the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory) have some degree of self-government although less than that of the states. In the self-governing territories, the Australian Parliament retains the full power to legislate, and can override laws made by the territorial institutions, which it has done on rare occasions. For the purposes of Australian (and joint Australia-New Zealand) intergovernmental bodies, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory are treated as if they were states.

Each state has a Governor, appointed by the Queen, which by convention she does on the advice of the state Premier. The Administrator of the Northern Territory, by contrast, is appointed by the Governor-General. The Australian Capital Territory has neither a Governor nor an Administrator, but the Governor-General exercises some powers that in other jurisdictions are exercised by the Governor of a state or Administrator of a territory, such as the power to dissolve the Legislative Assembly.

Jervis Bay Territory is the only non-self-governing internal territory. Until 1989, it was administered as if it were a part of the ACT, although it has always been a separate territory. Under the terms of the Jervis Bay Territory Acceptance Act 1915,^[15] the laws of the ACT apply to the Jervis Bay Territory insofar as they are applicable and providing they are not inconsistent with an Ordinance.^[16] Although residents of the Jervis Bay Territory are generally subject to laws made by the ACT Legislative Assembly, they are not represented in the Assembly. They are represented in the Parliament of Australia as part of the Electoral Division of Fraser in the ACT and by the ACT's two Senators. In other respects, the territory is administered directly by the Federal Government through the Territories portfolio.

The external territory of Norfolk Island possessed a degree of self-government from 1979 until 2015.

Each state has a bicameral parliament except Queensland, which abolished its upper house in 1922. The lower house is called the Legislative Assembly, except in South Australia and Tasmania, where it is called the House of Assembly. Tasmania is the only state to use proportional representation for elections to its lower house; all others elect members from single member constituencies, using preferential voting. The upper house is called the Legislative Council and is generally elected from multi-member constituencies using proportional representation. The three self-governing territories, the ACT, the Northern Territory, and Norfolk Island, each have unicameral Legislative Assemblies.

The head of government of each state is called the premier, appointed by the state's Governor. In normal circumstances, the Governor will appoint as premier whoever leads the party or coalition which exercises control of the lower house (in the case of Queensland, the only house) of the state Parliament. However, in times of constitutional crisis, the Governor can appoint someone else as Premier. The head of government of the self-governing internal territories is called the chief minister. The Northern Territory's chief minister, in normal circumstances whoever controls the Legislative Assembly, is appointed by the administrator.

Comparative terminology

Governors and administrators of states and territories

Premiers and chief ministers of states and territories

State and territorial parliaments

• Parliament of New South Wales
• Parliament of Queensland
• Parliament of South Australia
• Parliament of Tasmania
• Parliament of Victoria
• Parliament of Western Australia
• Northern Territory Legislative Assembly
• Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly

State and territory supreme courts

• Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory
• Supreme Court of New South Wales
• Supreme Court of the Northern Territory
• Supreme Court of Queensland
• Supreme Court of South Australia
• Supreme Court of Tasmania
• Supreme Court of Victoria
• Supreme Court of Western Australia
• Supreme Court of Norfolk Island

State and territory police forces

• Australian Capital Territory Police (performed by Australian Federal Police)
• New South Wales Police
• Northern Territory Police
• Queensland Police
• South Australia Police
• Tasmania Police
• Victoria Police
• Western Australia Police

State and territory borders

• Australian Capital Territory border
• New South Wales borders
• Northern Territory borders
• Queensland borders
• South Australian borders
• Tasmanian borders
• Victorian borders
• Western Australia border

Statistics

State / territory	Abbreviation	Land area[6][17]			Population (2016 census)		Population density			% of population in capital		Notes
		km2	sq mi	Rank	Number	Rank	/km2	/sq mi	Rank	%	Rank
Australian Capital Territory	ACT	2,280	880	7000800000000000000♠8	7005395200000000000♠395,200	7000700000000000000♠7	167.6	434	7000100000000000000♠1	99.6%	7000100000000000000♠1	[18]
New South Wales	NSW	800,628	309,124	7000500000000000000♠5	7006770430000000000♠7,704,300	7000100000000000000♠1	9.62	24.9	7000300000000000000♠3	63.0%	7000500000000000000♠5	[19]
Northern Territory	NT	1,335,742	515,733	7000300000000000000♠3	7005244000000000000♠244,000	7000800000000000000♠8	0.18	0.47	7000800000000000000♠8	54.0%	7000600000000000000♠6	[20]
Queensland	QLD	1,723,936	665,615	7000200000000000000♠2	7006482700000000000♠4,827,000	7000300000000000000♠3	2.79	7.2	7000500000000000000♠5	46.0%	7000700000000000000♠7	[21]
South Australia	SA	978,810	377,920	7000400000000000000♠4	7006170650000000000♠1,706,500	7000500000000000000♠5	1.74	4.5	7000600000000000000♠6	73.5%	7000200000000000000♠2	[22]
Tasmania	TAS	64,519	24,911	7000700000000000000♠7	7005518500000000000♠518,500	7000600000000000000♠6	7.58	19.6	7000400000000000000♠4	41.0%	7000800000000000000♠8	[23]
Victoria	VIC	227,010	87,650	7000600000000000000♠6	7006603910000000000♠6,039,100	7000200000000000000♠2	26.56	68.8	7000200000000000000♠2	71.0%	7000400000000000000♠4	[24]
Western Australia	WA	2,526,786	975,598	7000100000000000000♠1	7006261370000000000♠2,613,700	7000400000000000000♠4	1.03	2.7	7000700000000000000♠7	73.4%	7000300000000000000♠3	[25]

Distance table

Distance in kilometres from the corresponding city on the X-Y axis.

State and territory codes

See also

• ISO 3166-2:AU, the ISO codes for the states and territories of Australia.
• Australian regional rivalries
• List of Australian demonyms
• List of proposed states of Australia

Notes

References

External links

• Local government in Australia less powerful than in other countries