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States and territories of Australia

Australian states and territories are the second level of government division in the Commonwealth of Australia, between the federal government and local governments. States and territories are self-administered regions with a local legislature, police force and certain civil authorities, and are represented in the Parliament of Australia. Territories though, unlike states, rely on federal legislation and additional financial contributions to operate, and have less representation in the Senate.

Australia consists of six states, two major mainland territories, and other minor territories. The states are New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia. The two major mainland territories are the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory.

In most respects, the territories function similarly to the states, but the Commonwealth Parliament can override any legislation of their parliaments. By contrast, federal legislation overrides state legislation only with respect to certain areas as set out in Section 51 of the Constitution; all residual legislative powers are retained by the state parliaments, including powers over hospitals, education, police, the judiciary, roads, public transport and local government.

Each state and territory has its own legislature (unicameral in the case of the Northern Territory, the ACT and Queensland, and bicameral in the remaining states). The lower house is known as the Legislative Assembly (House of Assembly in South Australia and Tasmania) and the upper house the Legislative Council. The heads of the governments in each state and territory are called premiers and chief ministers, respectively. The Queen is represented in each state by a governor; an administrator in the Northern Territory, and the Governor-General in the ACT, have analogous roles.

Australia also has several minor territories; the federal government administers a separate area within New South Wales, the Jervis Bay Territory, as a naval base and sea port for the national capital. In addition Australia has the following, inhabited, external territories: Norfolk Island, Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, and several largely uninhabited external territories: Ashmore and Cartier Islands, Coral Sea Islands, Heard Island and McDonald Islands and the Australian Antarctic Territory.

States[]

Territories[]

Mainland territories[]

External territories[]

Former Territories[]

  • Central Australia (1926 - 1931)
  • North Australia (1926 - 1931)

Demography[]

State/territory Land area (km2) Rank Population (2012) Rank Population density (/km2) Rank % of population in capital Rank
NSWFlag New South Wales 800,642 5th 7,348,900 1st 9.18 3rd 63.5% 5th
VicFlag Victoria 227,416 6th 5,679,600 2nd 24.97 2nd 74.8% 4th
QLDFlag Queensland 1,730,648 2nd 4,610,900 3rd 2.66 5th 47.5% 7th
WAFlag Western Australia 2,529,875 1st 2,472,700 4th 0.98 7th 76.7% 3rd
SAFlag South Australia 983,482 4th 1,662,200 5th 1.69 6th 76.8% 2nd
Tasmanian Flag Tasmania 68,401 7th 512,400 6th 7.49 4th 42.3% 8th
ACTFlag Australian Capital Territory 2,358 8th 379,600 7th 160.98 1st 98.7% 1st
NTFlag Northern Territory 1,349,129 3rd 236,900 8th 0.18 8th 55.6% 6th
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