|
The states and territories of Australia make up the Commonwealth of Australia under a federal system of government.
Map showing the creation of the colonies/states and mainland territories.
| State | Abbreviation | Capital |
| | NSW | Sydney |
| | QLD | Brisbane |
| | SA | Adelaide |
| | TAS | Hobart |
| | VIC | Melbourne |
| | WA | Perth |
See also: List of State Codes
| Territory | Abbreviation | Capital |
| | ACT | Canberra |
| | JBT | |
| | 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.
Australian external territories
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.
| Entity | Head of State | Head of Government | Upper House of Parliament | Lower House of Parliament | Member of Parliament* | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australia | Governor-General | Prime Minister | Senate | House of Representatives | Senator | MP |
| New South Wales | Governor | Premier | Legislative Council | Legislative Assembly | MLC | MLA |
| Victoria | ||||||
| Queensland | Abolished (1922) | None | MP | |||
| South Australia | Legislative Council | House of Assembly | MLC | MHA | ||
| Tasmania | ||||||
| Western Australia | Legislative Assembly | MLA | ||||
| Australian Capital Territory | Chief Minister | Chief Minister | None | None | ||
| Northern Territory | Administrator | |||||
| Norfolk Island | ||||||
| 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. | ||||||
| Post | Appointee | Appointed |
| Governor of New South Wales | Her Excellency Professor Marie Bashir AC CVO | March 2001 |
| Governor of Queensland | Her Excellency Ms Quentin Bryce AC | July 2003 |
| Administrator of the Northern Territory | Mr Ted Egan AO | October 2003 |
| Administrator of Norfolk Island | The Hon Grant Tambling | November 2003 |
| Governor of Tasmania | His Excellency the Hon William Cox AC RFD ED | December 2004 |
| Governor of Western Australia | His Excellency Dr Ken Michael AC | October 2005 |
| Administrator of Christmas Island | The Hon Neil Lucas PSM | January 2006 |
| Administrator of Cocos (Keeling) Islands | ||
| Governor of Victoria | His Excellency Professor David de Kretser AC | April 2006 |
| Governor of South Australia | His Excellency Rear Admiral Kevin John Scarce AO, CSC | August 2007 |
| Post | Appointee | Political party | Appointed |
| Chief Minister for the Northern Territory of Australia | Mr Paul Henderson MLA | ALP | November 2007 |
| Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory | Mr Jon Stanhope MLA | ALP | November 2001 |
| Premier of South Australia | The Hon Mike Rann MHA | ALP | March 2002 |
| Premier of Tasmania | The Hon Paul Lennon MHA | ALP | March 2004 |
| Premier of New South Wales | The Hon Morris Iemma MLA | ALP | August 2005 |
| Premier of Western Australia | The Hon Alan Carpenter MLA | ALP | January 2006 |
| Chief Minister of Norfolk Island | Mr Andre Nobbs MLA | March 2007 | |
| Premier of Victoria | The Hon John Brumby MLA | ALP | July 2007 |
| Premier of Queensland | The Hon Anna Bligh MP | ALP | September 2007 |
| State/territory | Land area (km²) | Rank | Population (2006) | Rank | Population density (/km²) | Rank | % of population in capital | Rank |
| | 2,358 | 8th | 336,400 | 7th | 137.53 | 1st | 99.6% | 1st |
| | 800,642 | 5th | 6,817,100 | 1st | 8.44 | 3rd | 63% | 5th |
| | 227,416 | 6th | 5,188,100 | 2nd | 22 | 2nd | 71% | 4th |
| | 1,730,648 | 2nd | 4,264,590 | 3rd | 2.26 | 5th | 46% | 7th |
| | 983,482 | 4th | 1,581,400 | 5th | 1.56 | 6th | 73.5% | 2nd |
| | 2,529,875 | 1st | 2,105,800 | 4th | 0.79 | 7th | 73.4% | 3rd |
| | 68,401 | 7th | 492,700 | 6th | 7.08 | 4th | 41% | 8th |
| | 1,349,129 | 3rd | 215,000 | 8th | 0.15 | 8th | 54% | 6th |
| Adelaide | |||||||||||||||
| 2673 | Albany | ||||||||||||||
| 1533 | 3588 | Alice Springs | |||||||||||||
| 1578 | 3633 | 443 | Ayers Rock | ||||||||||||
| 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.
| 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 PO box and Large Users only | |||||||
| States and territories 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 | |
| Politics of Australia | ||
|---|---|---|
| Commonwealth | Parliament · House of Representatives · Senate · High Court · Lower courts · Queen · Governor-General · Prime Minister · Cabinet · Executive Council · Ministry | |
| Federal elections | earlier · 1969 · 1972 · 1974 · 1975 · 1977 · 1980 · 1983 · 1984 · 1987 · 1990 · 1993 · 1996 · 1998 · 2001 · 2004 · 2007 · next | |
| State/territory elections |
ACT (2004 election) · NSW (2007 election) · NT (2005 election) · QLD (2006 election) · SA (2006 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 | |
| First-level administrative divisions of Oceania | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from Wikipedia