States and territories of Australia
The
Australian States and Territories make up the
Commonwealth of Australia under a
federal system of government.
States
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New South Wales (NSW) (
Sydney)
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Queensland (QLD) (
Brisbane)
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South Australia (SA) (
Adelaide)
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Tasmania (TAS) (
Hobart)
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Victoria (VIC) (
Melbourne)
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Western Australia (WA) (
Perth)
Mainland territories
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Australian Capital Territory (ACT) (
Canberra)
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Jervis Bay Territory*
Northern Territory (NT) (
Darwin)
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.
External territories
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Ashmore and Cartier Islands*
Australian Antarctic Territory*
Norfolk Island*
Christmas Island*
Cocos (Keeling) Islands*
Coral Sea Islands Territory*
Heard and McDonald IslandsSee also: List of Australian states by rankingThe 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 of 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.
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 the
alternative vote. 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.
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Governor of New South Wales - Her Excellency Professor
Marie Bashir AC CVO; appointed March 2001
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Governor of Victoria - His Excellency Professor
David de Kretser AC; appointed April 2006
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Governor of South Australia - Her Excellency Mrs
Marjorie Jackson-Nelson AC CVO MBE; appointed November 2001
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Governor of Queensland - Her Excellency Ms
Quentin Bryce AC; appointed July 2003
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Governor of Tasmania - His Excellency the Hon
William Cox AC RFD ED; appointed December 2004
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Governor of Western Australia - His Excellency
Dr Ken Michael AC; appointed October 2005
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Administrator of the Northern Territory - Mr
Ted Egan AO; appointed October 2003
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Administrator of Norfolk Island - The Hon
Grant Tambling; appointed November 2003
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Premier of Queensland - The Hon
Peter Beattie MP (
ALP); since June 1998
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Premier of Victoria - The Hon
Steve Bracks MLA (
ALP); since October 1999
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Chief Minister for the Northern Territory of Australia - Ms
Clare Martin MLA (
ALP); since August 2001
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Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory - Mr
Jon Stanhope MLA (
ALP); since November 2001
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Premier of South Australia - The Hon
Mike Rann MHA (
ALP); since March 2002
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Premier of Tasmania - The Hon
Paul Lennon MHA (
ALP); since March 2004
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Premier of New South Wales - The Hon
Morris Iemma MLA (
ALP); since August 2005
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Premier of Western Australia - The Hon
Alan Carpenter MLA (
ALP); since January 2006
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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*
New South Wales Police*
Northern Territory Police*
Queensland Police*
South Australia Police*
Tasmania Police*
Victoria Police*
Western Australia Police| State/territory | Land area (km²) | Population (2004) | Density (persons/km²) | Population % in capital |
| Australian Capital Territory | 2 358 (rank 8th) | 324 300 (rank 7th) | 137.53 (rank 1st) | 99.6% (rank 1st) |
| New South Wales | 800 642 (rank 5th) | 6 760 000 (rank 1st) | 8.44 (rank 3rd) | 63% (rank 5th) |
| Victoria | 227 416 (rank 6th) | 5 002 300 (rank 2nd) | 22 (rank 2nd) | 71% (rank 4th) |
| Queensland | 1 730 648 (rank 2nd) | 3 919 500 (rank 3rd) | 2.26 (rank 5th) | 46% (rank 7th) |
| South Australia | 983 482 (rank 4th) | 1 537 900 (rank 5th) | 1.56 (rank 6th) | 73.5% (rank 2nd) |
| Western Australia | 2 529 875 (rank 1st) | 1 998 400 (rank 4th) | 0.79 (rank 7th) | 73.4% (rank 3rd) |
| Tasmania | 68 401 (rank 7th) | 484 000 (rank 6th) | 7.08 (rank 4th) | 41% (rank 8th) |
| Northern Territory | 1 349 129 (rank 3rd) | 200 800 (rank 8th) | 0.15 (rank 8th) | 54% (rank 6th) |
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| align=center| State/Territory | Callsigns | Postcodes | Telephone area codes | Time zone |
| AM/FM | TV | Amateur | Std | Summer |
| Australian Capital Territory | xx(x)Cn | VK1xx | 02nn*, 26nn | +10 | +11 |
| New South Wales | 2xx(x) | VK2xx | 1nnn*, 2nnn | 02 | +10 | +11 |
| Victoria | 3xx(x) | xx(x)Vn | VK3xx | 03 | +10 | +11 |
| Queensland | 4xx(x) | xx(x)Qn | VK4xx | 07 | +10 |
| South Australia | 5xx(x) | VK5xx | 5nnn | 08 | +9.5 | +10.5 |
| Western Australia | 6xx(x) | VK6xx | 6nnn | 08 | +8 |
| Tasmania | 7xx(x) | xx(x)Tn | VK7xx | 03 | +10 | +11 |
| Northern Territory | 8xx(x) | VK8xx | 08nn | 08 | +9.5 |
| External Territories |
| Norfolk Island | 2xx(x) | ? | VK9xx | (NSW) | +672 3 | +11.5 |
| Lord Howe Island | 2xx(x) | ? | (NSW) | +11 |
| Christmas Island | ? | ? | (WA) | (WA) | +7 |
| Cocos Island | ? | ? | +6.5 |
| Aust. Antarctic Territory | none | VK0xx | (Tas) | +672 1 | +6 to +8 |
| Macquarie Island | none | +11 |
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Used for PO Box and Large Users only*
List of capitals of subnational entities*
List of regions in Australia*
ISO 3166-2:AU, the ISO codes for the states and territories of Australia
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Australian States by Gross State Product*
Proposals for new Australian States*
Maps of Australia*
CityMayors article
