States and territories of Australia

The Commonwealth of Australia is a union of six states and various territories. The Australian mainland is made up of five states and three territories, with the sixth state of Tasmania being made up of islands. In addition there are six island territories, known as external territories, and a claim to a territory in Antarctica. All states and two of the three internal territories have their own parliaments and administer themselves; the remaining territories are administered by the Federal Government.

Contents

States and territories

Reference map for States and Territories of Australia
States and Territories of Australia[1]
Flag State/Territory name ISO[2] Postal Type Capital (or largest settlement) Population Area (km²)
Ashmore and Cartier Islands External (West Islet) 0 199
Australian Antarctic Territory External (Mawson Station) 1,000 5,896,500
Australian Capital Territory AU-ACT ACT Territory Canberra 358,894 2,358
Christmas Island CX External Flying Fish Cove 1,493 135
Cocos (Keeling) Islands CC External West Island 628 14
Coral Sea Islands External (Willis Island) 4 10
Heard Island and McDonald Islands HM External (Atlas Cove) 0 372
Jervis Bay Territory JBT Territory (Jervis Bay Village) 611 70
New South Wales AU-NSW NSW State Sydney 7,238,819 800,642
Norfolk Island NF External Kingston 2,114 35
Northern Territory AU-NT NT Territory Darwin 229,675 1,349,129
Queensland AU-QLD QLD State Brisbane 4,516,361 1,730,648
South Australia AU-SA SA State Adelaide 1,644,642 983,482
Tasmania AU-TAS TAS State Hobart 507,626 68,401
Victoria AU-VIC VIC State Melbourne 5,547,527 227,416
Western Australia AU-WA WA State Perth 2,296,411 2,529,875

See also: List of State Codes

Australia has had three now-defunct territories in its history:

Background and overview

The states originated as separate British colonies prior to Federation (in 1901). Their powers are protected by the Australian constitution, 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. 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 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 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 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.

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.

Comparative terminology

Entity State/Territory type Tie to the Queen? Domestic administrator Head of Government Upper House of Parliament Lower House of Parliament Member of Parliament*
Australia Federal Government Direct Governor-General Prime Minister Senate House of Representatives Senator MP
South Australia Federated state Direct (established by Australia Act) Governor Premier Legislative Council House of Assembly MLC MHA
Tasmania
New South Wales Legislative Assembly MLA
Victoria
Western Australia
Queensland None (abolished 1922) None MP
Australian Capital Territory Self-governing territory None Assembly and Chief Minister Chief Minister None Legislative Assembly None MLA
Northern Territory Indirect (through Governor-General) Administrator Administrator
Norfolk Island External territory
Christmas Island Mayor/Shire President Shire Council Councillor
Cocos (Keeling) Islands
*Note: The abbreviation MP is an acceptable, and indeed more common, term for members of each lower house.

Governors and Administrators of states and territories

Main article: Governors of the Australian states
Post Incumbent Appointed
Governor of New South Wales Her Excellency Marie Bashir 1 March 2001
Governor of Queensland Her Excellency Penelope Wensley 29 July 2008
Governor of South Australia His Excellency Kevin Scarce 8 August 2007
Governor of Tasmania His Excellency Peter Underwood 2 April 2008
Governor of Victoria His Excellency Alex Chernov 8 April 2011
Governor of Western Australia His Excellency Malcolm McCusker 1 July 2011
Administrator of the Northern Territory His Honour Tom Pauling 9 November 2007

Premiers and Chief Ministers of states and territories

Main article: Premiers of the Australian states
Post Incumbent Political party Appointed
Premier of New South Wales The Hon Barry O'Farrell MLA Liberal March 2011
Premier of Victoria The Hon Ted Baillieu MLA Liberal December 2010
Premier of Queensland The Hon Anna Bligh MP Labor September 2007
Premier of South Australia The Hon Jay Weatherill MHA Labor October 2011
Premier of Western Australia The Hon Colin Barnett MLA Liberal September 2008
Premier of Tasmania The Hon Lara Giddings MHA Labor January 2011
Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory Ms Katy Gallagher MLA Labor May 2011
Chief Minister of the Northern Territory Mr Paul Henderson MLA Labor November 2007
Chief Minister of Norfolk Island Mr David Buffett MLA March 2010

State and territorial parliaments

Main article: Parliaments of the Australian states and territories

State and territory supreme courts

Main article: Australian court hierarchy

State and territory police forces

Main article: Law enforcement in Australia

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 344,200 7th 137.53 1st 99.6% 1st
 New South Wales 800,642 5th 6,967,200 1st 8.44 3rd 63% 5th
 Victoria 227,416 6th 5,297,600 2nd 22 2nd 71% 4th
 Queensland 1,730,648 2nd 4,279,400 3rd 2.26 5th 46% 7th
 South Australia 983,482 4th 1,601,800 5th 1.56 6th 73.5% 2nd
 Western Australia 2,529,875 1st 2,163,200 4th 0.79 7th 73.4% 3rd
 Tasmania 68,401 7th 498,200 6th 7.08 4th 41% 8th
 Northern Territory 1,349,129 3rd 219,900 8th 0.15 8th 54% 6th

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 609 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 kilometres from the corresponding city on the X-Y axis.

State and territory codes

State/Territory Call signs Postal Telephone numbers in Australia Time zone
AM/FM TV Amateur Abbrev. Postcode Std Summer
Australian Capital Territory 1xx(x)† xx(x)Cn† VK1xx† ACT 02nn*, 26nn, 29nn +61 2 6xxx xxxx +10 +11
New South Wales 2xx(x) xx(x)Nn VK2xx NSW 1nnn*, 2nnn +61 2 xxxx xxxx ^ +10 (+9½) +11
Victoria 3xx(x) xx(x)Vn VK3xx VIC 3nnn, 8nnn* +61 3 xxxx xxxx ^ +10 +11
Queensland 4xx(x) xx(x)Qn VK4xx QLD 4nnn, 9nnn* +61 7 xxxx xxxx +10
South Australia 5xx(x) xx(x)Sn VK5xx SA 5nnn +61 8 8xxx xxxx +61 8 7xxx xxxx +9½ +10½
Western Australia 6xx(x) xx(x)Wn VK6xx WA 6nnn +61 8 9xxx xxxx +61 8 6xxx xxxx +8
Tasmania 7xx(x) xx(x)Tn VK7xx TAS 7nnn +61 3 6xxx xxxx +10 +11
Northern Territory 8xx(x) xx(x)Dn VK8xx NT 08nn +61 8 8xxx xxxx +9½
External Territories
Norfolk Island 2xx(x) xx(x)Nn VK2xx NSW 2899 +672 3 xx xxx +11½
Christmas Island 6xx(x) xx(x)Wn VK9xx WA 6798 +61 8 9164 xxxx +7
Cocos Island 6xx(x) xx(x)Wn VK9xx WA 6799 +61 8 9162 xxxx +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.
^ Some exceptions apply to numbers in this state's number range
† a number of broadcast stations in the ACT have call signs allocated as if it was part of New South Wales.

See also

References and notes

  1. ^ References and details on data provided in the table can be found within the individual state and territory articles.
  2. ^ ISO 3166-2:AU (ISO 3166-2 codes for the states and territories of Australia)

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