Government of the Northern Territory

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Government of the Northern Territory of Australia is a unicameral parliament (i.e. only a Legislative Assembly, rather than also including a Legislative Council), which was granted in 1987. While the Assembly exercises roughly the same powers as the state governments of Australia, it does so by a delegation of powers from the Federal Government, rather than by any constitutional right. This means that the Federal Government is entitled to overturn any legislation passed by the Assembly; the Federal Government exercised this power, for instance, when it cancelled the Territory's voluntary euthanasia laws.

For several years there has been agitation for full statehood. A referendum was held on the issue in 1998, but the measure failed. This was a shock to both the Northern Territory and Commonwealth governments, for opinion polls showed most Territorians supported statehood. However, under the Australian Constitution, the Federal government sets the terms of entry to full statehood. The Northern Territory was only offered 2 Senators, rather than the full complement of 12 enjoyed by other states. (With 12 Senate seats, a Territorian vote would have been worth more than 30 votes in New South Wales or Victoria.) Alongside what was cited as an arrogant approach adopted by then Chief Minister Shane Stone, it is thought that many Territorians were reluctant to accept statehood on the offered terms.^{[citations needed]}

The current head of government is Chief Minister Paul Henderson who replaced former Chief Minister Clare Martin, who led the Australian Labor Party to their first Northern Territory electoral victory in August 2001, and to a second victory in June 2005. The Leader of the Opposition was Jodeen Carney from the 2005 election until January 2008, when the party chose Terry Mills as its new leader.

The territory is represented in the Commonwealth parliament by two members in the House of Representatives (the Division of Solomon and Division of Lingiari) and two members in the Senate. The Member for Lingiari also represents voters from Australia's Indian Ocean Territories (Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands), while the Northern Territory Senators represent those voters in the Senate.

At the local government level, there are 6 incorporated municipalities (3 town councils, 1 shire and 2 cities), 30 'community government councils,' and 26 other bodies.

[edit] See also

• Local Government Areas of the Northern Territory

v • d • e Government of the Northern Territory Executive Monarchy • Administrator • Chief Minister • Police Legislative Legislative Assembly • Legislative Council • Electoral districts • MLAs Legislative Elections 1974 • 1977 • 1980 • 1983 • 1987 • 1990 • 1994 • 1997 • 2001 • 2005 Judicial High Court • Supreme Court • Magistrates' Court • Other courts

v • d • e Politics of Australia Commonwealth Parliament · House of Representatives · Senate · High Court · Lower courts · Queen · Governor-General · Prime Minister · Cabinet · Executive Council · Ministry Federal elections pre-1969 · 1969 · 1972 · 1974 · 1975 · 1977 · 1980 · 1983 · 1984 · 1987 · 1990 · 1993 · 1996 · 1998 · 2001 · 2004 · 2007 · next State/territory elections ACT (next election) · NSW (2007 election) · NT (2005 election) · QLD (2006 election) · SA (next election) · TAS (2006 election) · VIC (2006 election) · WA (2005 election) Political parties Australian Democrats · Australian Greens · Australian Labor Party · Family First Party · Liberal Party of Australia · National Party of Australia · Micro-parties

v • d • e Government of Australia States and mainland territories Australian Capital Territory · New South Wales · Northern Territory · Queensland · South Australia · Tasmania · Victoria · Western Australia · Jervis Bay Territory External territories Ashmore and Cartier Islands · Australian Antarctic Territory · Christmas Island · Cocos (Keeling) Islands · Coral Sea Islands · Heard Island and McDonald Islands · Norfolk Island