States and territories of Australia

The states and territories of Australia make up the Commonwealth of Australia under a federal system of government.

Mainland
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

 * Ashmore and Cartier Islands
 * Australian Antarctic Territory
 * Norfolk Island
 * 25x15px Cocos (Keeling) Islands
 * Coral Sea Islands Territory
 * Heard and McDonald Islands

Former

 * Territory of North Australia (1927-31)
 * Territory of Central Australia (1927-31)
 * Territory of Papua (1902-49)
 * Territory of New Guinea (1920-49)
 * Territory of Papua and New Guinea (1949-72)

Background and overview
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 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.

State and territorial parliaments

 * 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