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The states and territories of Australia make up the Commonwealth of Australia under a federal system of government.
[edit] States and territories
[edit] The States
Map showing the creation of the colonies/states and mainland territories.
See also: List of State Codes
[edit] The Territories
[edit] Mainland
From 1926 to 1931, Central Australia existed as a separate territory between the 20th and 26th parallels of latitude, before being reincorporated into the Northern Territory.
[edit] External
Australian external territories
[edit] Background and overview
The states originated as separate British colonies prior to Federation (in 1901). Their powers are protected by the Australian constitution, and 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. The Australian Parliament has powers to legislate in the territories that it does not possess in the states.
Most of the territories are directly administered by the Commonwealth government, while three (the Northern Territory, the Australian Capital Territory and Norfolk Island) administer themselves. 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 states.
Furthermore, the distribution of powers between the Commonwealth and the territories is different from that between the Commonwealth and the states. In the Northern Territory, the Commonwealth retains the power to directly administer uranium mining and Aboriginal lands – powers which it does not possess with respect to the states.
Each state has a Governor, appointed by the Queen, which by convention she does on the advice of the state Premier. The Administrators of the Northern Territory and Norfolk Island are, by contrast, appointed by the Governor-General. The Australian Capital Territory has neither a Governor nor 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 unique in being the only non-self-governing territory that is not an external territory. Until 1989 it was a part of the ACT, but was separated when the ACT achieved self-government. Residents of the Jervis Bay Territory are not represented in the ACT Legislative Assembly. However, laws made by that assembly generally apply to them. They are represented in the Australian parliament as part of the 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.
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, 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.
[edit] Comparative terminology
[edit] State governors and territorial administrators
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[edit] Premiers and Chief Ministers of states and territories
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[edit] State and territorial parliaments
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[edit] State and territory police forces
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[edit] Statistics
State/territory |
Land area (km²) |
Rank |
Population (2006) |
Rank |
Population density (/km²) |
Rank |
% of population in capital |
Rank |
Australian Capital Territory |
2,358 |
8th |
336,400 |
7th |
137.53 |
1st |
99.6% |
1st |
New South Wales |
800,642 |
5th |
6,817,100 |
1st |
8.44 |
3rd |
63% |
5th |
Victoria |
227,416 |
6th |
5,188,100 |
2nd |
22 |
2nd |
71% |
4th |
Queensland |
1,730,648 |
2nd |
4,264,590 |
3rd |
2.26 |
5th |
46% |
7th |
South Australia |
983,482 |
4th |
1,581,400 |
5th |
1.56 |
6th |
73.5% |
2nd |
Western Australia |
2,529,875 |
1st |
2,105,800 |
4th |
0.79 |
7th |
73.4% |
3rd |
Tasmania |
68,401 |
7th |
492,700 |
6th |
7.08 |
4th |
41% |
8th |
Northern Territory |
1,349,129 |
3rd |
215,000 |
8th |
0.15 |
8th |
54% |
6th |
[edit] Distance table
Distance Table Australia
Adelaide |
2673 |
Albany |
1533 |
3588 |
Alice Springs |
1578 |
3633 |
443 |
Uluru |
2045 |
4349 |
3038 |
3254 |
Brisbane |
2483 |
1943 |
2483 |
1223 |
3317 |
Broome |
3352 |
5656 |
2457 |
2900 |
1716 |
2496 |
Cairns |
1196 |
3846 |
3706 |
2751 |
1261 |
3275 |
2568 |
Canberra |
3022 |
4614 |
1489 |
1932 |
3463 |
1803 |
2882 |
4195 |
Darwin |
1001 |
3674 |
2534 |
2579 |
1944 |
3636 |
3251 |
918 |
4023 |
Hobart |
3219 |
3787 |
1686 |
2129 |
3660 |
1045 |
3079 |
4392 |
827 |
4220 |
Kununurra |
2783 |
5087 |
2505 |
2948 |
976 |
2840 |
740 |
1999 |
2930 |
2682 |
3127 |
Mackay |
731 |
3404 |
2264 |
2309 |
1674 |
3124 |
2981 |
648 |
3753 |
270 |
3950 |
2412 |
Melbourne |
2742 |
5106 |
1209 |
1652 |
1829 |
1834 |
1248 |
2561 |
1634 |
3075 |
1831 |
1296 |
2805 |
Mount Isa |
2781 |
409 |
3696 |
3741 |
4457 |
2389 |
5764 |
3954 |
4205 |
3782 |
3378 |
5195 |
3512 |
4905 |
Perth |
1412 |
3970 |
3830 |
2875 |
1001 |
3373 |
2495 |
286 |
4034 |
1142 |
4516 |
1926 |
872 |
2400 |
4078 |
Sydney |
distance in Kilometre.
[edit] State and territory codes
State/Territory |
Callsigns |
Postcodes |
Telephone area codes |
Time zone |
AM/FM |
TV |
Amateur |
Std |
Summer |
Australian Capital Territory |
1xx(x) |
xx(x)Cn |
VK1xx |
02nn*, 26nn, 29nn |
02 |
+10 |
+11 |
New South Wales |
2xx(x) |
xx(x)Nn |
VK2xx |
1nnn*, 2nnn |
02 |
+10 |
+11 |
Victoria |
3xx(x) |
xx(x)Vn |
VK3xx |
3nnn, 8nnn* |
03 |
+10 |
+11 |
Queensland |
4xx(x) |
xx(x)Qn |
VK4xx |
4nnn, 9nnn* |
07 |
+10 |
South Australia |
5xx(x) |
xx(x)Sn |
VK5xx |
5nnn |
08 |
+9½ |
+10½ |
Western Australia |
6xx(x) |
xx(x)Wn |
VK6xx |
6nnn |
08 |
+8 |
+9 |
Tasmania |
7xx(x) |
xx(x)Tn |
VK7xx |
7nnn |
03 |
+10 |
+11 |
Northern Territory |
8xx(x) |
xx(x)Dn |
VK8xx |
08nn |
08 |
+9½ |
External Territories |
Norfolk Island |
2xx(x) |
|
VK9xx |
(NSW) |
+672 3 |
+11½ |
Christmas Island |
|
|
(WA) |
(WA) |
+7 |
Cocos Island |
|
|
+6½ |
Australian Antarctic Territory |
none |
VK0xx |
(Tas) |
+672 1 |
+6 to +8 |
Macquarie Island |
none |
+10 |
+11 |
* used for some PO box and Large Users only |
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
States and territories of Australia |
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States and mainland
territories |
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External territories |
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