States and territories of Australia

States and territories of Australia
Category Federated states (6)
Federal territories (3)
Overseas territories (7)
Location Commonwealth of Australia
Populations 0 (Ashmore and Cartier Islands, Heard and McDonald Islands) – 7,272,800 (New South Wales)
Areas 10 square kilometres (3.9 sq mi) (Coral Sea Islands) – 5,896,500 square kilometres (2,276,700 sq mi) (Australian Antarctic Territory)
Subdivisions Local government areas
Cadastral divisions

The states and mainland territories of the Commonwealth of Australia combine to make up the world's sixth-largest country by total area. Australia comprises six states and various territories; the Australian mainland is made up of five states and three territories (including small, somewhat anomalous Jervis Bay Territory), with the sixth state being located on the island of Tasmania (and various offshore islands) to the south of the mainland. In addition, there are six island territories, known as external territories. Australia also claims part of Antarctica as the Australian Antarctic Territory.

All states and two of the three internal territories have their own parliaments and administer themselves; all remaining territories are administered by the federal government, but with Norfolk Island having some degree of self-government.

External territories, states and territories

Reference map for States and Territories of Australia
States and Territories of Australia[1]
Flag State/Territory name Abbrev ISO[2] Postal Type Capital, or largest settlement, or man-made stationary anchor. Population Area (km²)
Ashmore and Cartier Islands External Offshore Anchorage 0 199
Australian Antarctic Territory External Davis Station 1,000 5,896,500
Australian Capital Territory Australian Capital Territory ACT AU-ACT ACT Territory Canberra 373,100 2,358
Christmas Island Christmas Island CX External Flying Fish Cove 2,072 135
Cocos (Keeling) Islands Cocos (Keeling) Islands CC External West Island 596 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 377 70
New South Wales New South Wales NSW AU-NSW NSW State Sydney 7,272,800 800,642
Norfolk Island Norfolk Island NF External Kingston 2,302 35
Northern Territory Northern Territory NT AU-NT NT Territory Darwin 233,300 1,349,129
Queensland Queensland Qld AU-QLD QLD State Brisbane 4,560,059 1,730,648
South Australia South Australia SA AU-SA SA State Adelaide 1,650,600 983,482
Tasmania Tasmania Tas AU-TAS TAS State Hobart 512,100 68,401
Victoria (Australia) Victoria Vic AU-VIC VIC State Melbourne 5,603,100 227,416
Western Australia Western Australia WA AU-WA WA State Perth 2,451,400 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). 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 colonies of Tasmania (established as a separate colony named Van Diemen's Land in 1825), South Australia (1836), New Zealand (1840),[3] Victoria (1851) and Queensland (1859). The Swan River Colony (present-day city of Perth) was established in Western Australia in 1829. On Federation, the six colonies of New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia, and Tasmania became original 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. The Australian Parliament has power to legislate in the territories that it does not possess in the states: Constitution section 122.

Most of the territories are directly administered by the Commonwealth Government, while three (the Northern Territory, the Australian Capital Territory and Norfolk Island) have some degree of self-government. 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 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, 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.[4] 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.

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
Upper house Lower house[note 1]
Commonwealth of 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 MP
Victoria MLA
Western Australia
Queensland N/A (abolished 1922) N/A MP
Australian Capital Territory Self-governing territory None Assembly and Chief Minister Chief Minister N/A MLA
Northern Territory Indirect (through Governor-General) Administrator
Norfolk Island External self-governing territory
Christmas Island External territory Mayor/Shire President Shire Council Councillor
Cocos (Keeling) Islands
Note:
  1. ↑ The abbreviation MP is an acceptable, and indeed more common, term for members of each lower house.

Governors and Administrators of states and territories

Post Incumbent Appointed
Governor of New South Wales His Excellency David Hurley 2 October 2014
Governor of Queensland His Excellency Paul de Jersey 29 July 2014
Governor of South Australia His Excellency Hieu Van Le 1 September 2014
Governor of Tasmania Her Excellency Kate Warner 10 December 2014
Governor of Victoria His Excellency Alex Chernov 8 April 2011
Governor of Western Australia Her Excellency Kerry Sanderson 20 October 2014
Administrator of the Northern Territory His Honour John Hardy 10 November 2014
Administrator of Norfolk Island His Honour Gary Hardgrave 1 July 2014
Administrator of Australian Indian Ocean Territories
(Christmas Island and Cocos (Keeling) Islands)		 His Honour Barry Haase 5 October 2014

Premiers and Chief Ministers of states and territories

Post Incumbent Political party Appointed
Premier of New South Wales Baird, MikeMike Baird MP Liberal April 2014
Premier of Queensland Palaszczuk, AnnastaciaAnnastacia Palaszczuk MP Labor February 2015
Premier of South Australia Weatherill, JayJay Weatherill MHA Labor October 2011
Premier of Tasmania Hodgman, WillWill Hodgman MP Liberal March 2014
Premier of Victoria Andrews, DanielDaniel Andrews MLA Labor December 2014
Premier of Western Australia Barnett, ColinColin Barnett MLA Liberal September 2008
Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory Barr, AndrewAndrew Barr MLA Labor December 2014
Chief Minister of the Northern Territory Giles, AdamAdam Giles MLA Country Liberal March 2013
Chief Minister of Norfolk Island Snell, LisleLisle Snell MLA March 2013
Mayor of Australian Indian Ocean Territories
(Christmas Island and Cocos (Keeling) Islands)		 Councillor Pirus, BalmutBalmut Pirus March 2013

State and territorial parliaments

State and territory supreme courts

State and territory police forces

State and territory borders

Statistics

State / Territory Land area Population
(2011 census)		 Population density % of population
in capital
km2 sq mi Number /km2 /sq mi %
 Australian Capital Territory 2,358.0 910.4 8th 357,222 7th 137.53 356.2 1st 99.6% 1st
 New South Wales 801,321.7 309,392.0 5th 6,917,658 1st 8.44 21.9 3rd 63.0% 5th
 Victoria 227,417.5 87,806.4 6th 5,354,042 2nd 22.00 57.0 2nd 71.0% 4th
 Queensland 1,734,218.7 669,585.6 2nd 4,332,739 3rd 2.26 5.9 5th 46.0% 7th
 South Australia 985,288.7 380,422.1 4th 1,596,572 5th 1.56 4.0 6th 73.5% 2nd
 Western Australia 2,531,572.0 977,445.4 1st 2,239,170 4th 0.79 2.0 7th 73.4% 3rd
 Tasmania 67,914.3 26,221.9 7th 495,354 6th 7.08 18.3 4th 41.0% 8th
 Northern Territory 1,352,187.6 522,082.6 3rd 211,945 8th 0.15 0.39 8th 54.0% 6th

Distance table

Australian Distance Table
Adelaide
2673Albany
15333588Alice Springs
15783633 443Uluru
2045434930383254Brisbane
24831943248312233317Broome
335256562457290017162496Cairns
1196384637062751126132752568Canberra
30224614148919323463180328824195Darwin
1001367425342579194436363251 9184023Hobart
32193787168621293660104530794392 8274220Kununurra
2783508725052948 9762840 7401999293026823127Mackay
731340422642309167431242981 6483753 60939502412Melbourne
2742510612091652182918341248256116343075183112962805Mount Isa
2781 409369637414457238957643954420537823378519535124905Perth
1412397038302875100133732495 2864034114245161926 87224004078 Sydney

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

State and territory codes

State/Territory Abbrev. Call signs Postal Telephone numbers in Australia Time zone
AM/FM TV Amateur Abbrev. Postcode Std Summer
Australian Capital Territory ACT 1xx(x)[nb 1] xx(x)Cn[nb 1] VK1xx[nb 1] ACT 02nn,[nb 2] 26nn, 29nn +61 2 62xx xxxx
+61 2 61xx xxxx 		+10 +11
New South Wales NSW 2xx(x) xx(x)Nn VK2xx NSW 1nnn,[nb 2] 2nnn +61 2 xxxx xxxx[nb 3] +10 (+9 1⁄2) +11
Victoria Vic 3xx(x) xx(x)Vn VK3xx VIC 3nnn, 8nnn[nb 2] +61 3 xxxx xxxx[nb 3] +10 +11
Queensland Qld 4xx(x) xx(x)Qn VK4xx QLD 4nnn, 9nnn[nb 2] +61 7 xxxx xxxx +10
South Australia SA 5xx(x) xx(x)Sn VK5xx SA 5nnn +61 8 8xxx xxxx
+61 8 7xxx xxxx 		+9 1⁄2 +10 1⁄2
Western Australia WA 6xx(x) xx(x)Wn VK6xx WA 6nnn +61 8 9xxx xxxx
+61 8 6xxx xxxx 		+8
Tasmania Tas 7xx(x) xx(x)Tn VK7xx TAS 7nnn +61 3 6xxx xxxx +10 +11
Northern Territory NT 8xx(x) xx(x)Dn VK8xx NT 08nn +61 8 89xx xxxx +9 1⁄2
                 External Territories
Norfolk Island 2xx(x) xx(x)Nn VK2xx NSW 2899 +672 3 xx xxx +11 1⁄2
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 +6 1⁄2
Australian Antarctic Territory AAT none VK0xx TAS +672 1 +6 to +8
Macquarie Island none +10 +11
  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 A number of broadcast stations in the ACT have call signs allocated as if ACT were part of New South Wales.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 This is used for some PO box and large users only.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Some exceptions apply to numbers in this state's number range.

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)
  3. ↑ A.H. McLintock (ed), An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand", 3 vols, Wellington, NZ:R.E. Owen, Government Printer, 1966, vol 3 p. 526.'
  4. ↑ "Jervis Bay Territory Governance and Administration". Although the Jervis Bay Territory is not part of the Australian Capital Territory, the laws of the ACT apply, insofar as they are applicable and, providing they are not inconsistent with an Ordinance, in the Territory by virtue of the "Jervis Bay Acceptance Act 1915". The Department of Regional Australia, Local Government, Arts and Sport. Retrieved 17 January 2013.

External links