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User:ZanderSchubert commented in June 2006 that the Comparative Terminology table was "ambiguous as it's impossible to tell where the cell borders are, and therefore which state/territory uses which name." I just read article for first time and was equally confused as it's still not corrected. If nobody knows how to create those "boxed" tables (I dont) may I suggest the author repeats the various titles against each state/territory, rather than showing the title at some ambiguous mid-point. Tiddy ( talk) 04:55, 18 October 2009 (UTC)
If you were to check the Public Service Style Manual you would find that the correct title for the head of Government in the Northern Territory is the Chief Minister FOR the Northern Territory.
Somin - I'm not so keen on your adjustments to the ACT Chief Minister situation - my original text pointed out that the Chief Minister is the only "popularly elected" chief executive in Australian government. Yes, he/she is elected by the Legislative assembly, but has to have been popularly elected to that assembly in the first place. Your revision, while accurate, seems to lose this distinction, in my opinion at least. Your thoughts? MMGB
I changed it because I was worried that "popularly elected" might be misinterpreted as meaning he/she was directly elected like how Presidents in several countries are (each voter casts their vote for a candidate, whichever candidate gets the most votes becomes President). I can see your point though. -- SJK
See Talk:Australian States and Territories/Australian states table generator for the Perl script used to generate the tables for the 8 States and territories of Australia.
I've added the state capitals here since I've done a redirect from Australian capital cities from this page. (Other options for re-direction include List of cities in Australia and List of capitals of sub-national entities, but I thought this page seemed like the best choice.)
I will also adjust Jervis Bay Territory on the list - it is a territory, but it isn't regarded as a territory the same as NT and ACT are. I think it may actually be administered as part of ACT, but I think the External Territories should be changed to 'Minor Territories' or something similar, and add JBT to that list. Chuq
A note about the changes I made to the "Honorable"s attached to the names of the state/territory political leaders.
Is there any reason why the states were changed to alphabetical order? One order is as good as any I guess, but I can't think of a reason to specifically change them? NSW-Vic-Qld-SA-WA-Tas-NT-ACT is pretty much the "standard" order for states - don't know why (approximately by population) but it just is - see post codes prefixes, etc. -- Chuq 11:03, 20 Nov 2004 (UTC)
The icons next to the states aren't very distinctive at that resolution. Would anyone object to using the state badges instead? This would lead to inconsistency between states and territories icons, but you'd get a better idea of what the picture was, so it'd have a bit more value IMHO. — Felix the Cassowary ( ɑe hɪː jɐ) 14:05, 30 October 2005 (UTC)
Ashmore and Cartier Islands' page says its part of Northern Territory. I don't know which one is right
The result of the debate was move. — Nightst a llion (?) 07:04, 6 February 2006 (UTC)
Australian States and Territories → States and territories of Australia – The proposed article name/format is consistent with almost all other articles concerning national subdivisions (e.g., Provinces and territories of Canada). E Pluribus Anthony | talk | 01:45, 31 January 2006 (UTC)
I'm not particularly opposed to the move, but I don't support it either. However, I will say that it's most inappropriate to move a page as prominent as this without discussion. There are many corresponding structures that will now need to be updated to conform with the new title (I won't propose it be moved back). Categories are one instance. If this change persists, I suggest that Category:Australian states and territories be deprecated and that Category:Subdivisions of Australia take its place with Category:States of Australia and Category:Territories of Australia as subcategories. I've left a note at the Australian Wikipedians' Notice Board for further input.-- cj | talk 03:48, 31 January 2006 (UTC)
I support dropping the joined category and using what you suggested. Tobias Conradi (Talk) 13:04, 31 January 2006 (UTC)
I wonder if the top-level category should be named Category:Subnational entities of Australia instead (I only suggest this given the apparent prevalence of that term in Wp) ... I don't see there being a problem using categories and subcategories, and also using whatever is consistently used throughout Wp. E Pluribus Anthony | talk | 13:34, 31 January 2006 (UTC)
The prevalent term is subnational entity and the 2nd most used is "subdivision" ( Category:Subdivisions by country). Subdivision is shorter and when used with the name of a region (mostly a country) then it is not ambigous as when used alone. Tobias Conradi (Talk) 13:43, 31 January 2006 (UTC)
I am about to delete from the article history those revisions whose content and/or edit summaries libel Xtra, per Wikipedia's libel policy. Selective deletion requires full deletion followed by selective restoration. Therefore this article will be deleted for a very brief period of time. Snottygobble 04:02, 10 April 2006 (UTC)
The section "State and Territory Codes" lists Lord Howe Island. This is not a territory, but an integral part of New South Wales. I tried to remove it but my table formatting skills let me down. Anyone?? JackofOz 06:59, 16 April 2006 (UTC)
The short lived territory's details have been added. Move it to somewhere else if you think it is more appropriate, but I believe it should be included somewhere. Kransky 06:45, 11 June 2006 (UTC)
Can someone who is good with Wiki tables please edit the 'Compared Terminology' table? As it currently appears (at least on my computer) the names of (for example) the houses of parliament are ambiguous as it's impossible to tell where the cell borders are, and therefore which state/territory uses which name. ZanderSchubert 03:39, 21 June 2006 (UTC)
I say no way, José..... These are all common terms to varying degrees. How is it going to help someone from overseas, looking for a definition, to be redirected to States and territories of Australia? Grant65 | Talk 05:36, 14 November 2006 (UTC)
In the infobox of each state article, the form of government is listed as "constitutional monarchy". Is this really true? Is the head of state of Western Australia a monarch? That is, is Elizabeth the Queen of Western Australia, along with all the other things she is queen of? I do see how this is not a clear-cut issue, because she does appoint the Governors (and I would assume that her choice is, in theory, unrestricted). But the infoboxes of other state articles, like Alberta, Oregon and Bavaria, don't list a form of government at all. Wouldn't that be the best solution here too? -- Jao 11:46, 1 July 2007 (UTC)
NO the states are not separate from the Commonwealth -- and they are component parts of the Commonwealth and are subject to the Constitution of the Commonwealth . If the Constitution of the Commonwealth was changed to eliminate the ' Queen of Australia ' then the Governors of the States would not be able to give their assent- ' in the Queens name ' to state Laws . There is no law which authorises Elizabeth II to ' act' as the Queen of any State. Access to the Monarch by the States is as ' Queen of Australia '. It is important to remember that at Federation the colonies ceased to exist and became ' states of the Commonwealth ' . Lejon 15 March 2008 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 61.68.11.244 ( talk) 13:42, 14 March 2008 (UTC)
In 1975 the Queensland Government tried to establish the ' Queen ' as Queen of Queensland - a challenge was heard in the High Court and the attempt was rejected . Here is part of Murphy J 's summation --
"In truth, the Queensland Act is incompatible with the unity of the "one indissoluble Federal Commonwealth" which was established by the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act. The Constitution Act is the authority for the Constitution of Queensland and the powers of its Parliament (Constitution ss. 106, 107). (at p337) 27. The establishment by an Australian State of a relationship with another country under which a governmental organ (judicial or otherwise) of that country is to advise the State on the questions and matters referred to in the Act, is quite inconsistent with the integrity of Australia as an independent sovereign nation in the world community. It is not within the legislative competence of the Parliament of any State to compromise or attempts to compromise Australian sovereignty and independence. (at p337)" .
Please see also some more excerpts discussing the relationship of the States to the Commonwealth at ' Australia Act 1986 ' ( wikipedia ) Note - the States did not continue as ' colonies ' after the Statute of Westminster -- simply because they were not colonies before the Statute . There was no ' dual ' Monarchy after 1931/1942 . A higer level of autonomy was granted at the Federal level but that level was not extended to the second level of Australian Government . Lejon ( talk) 04:21, 27 July 2009 (UTC)
Recently I was bold and added the terminology used in the inhabited external territories to the comparative terminology section. The title of the section and nothing in the section ever suggested that it was restricted only to the States and the Northern Territory, and seeing that none of the external territories are represented in any state or mainland territory's local legislature, I added them. User CJ however, reverted the edit with the simple explanation that they are not the same thing (which is pretty obvious), but doesn't explain why they are to be excluded. It is true that the Christmas Island and Cocos (Keeling) Islands are represented in the Australian Parliament as part of a electoral division encompassing a section of Northern Territory, but they are distinct. They have separate administrators (or in this case a shared administrator separate from the Northern Territory administrator) and are not represented in Northern Territory Legislative Assembly. In addition, the laws of Western Australia apply to Christmas Island and the Cocos Islands, which of course leaves the islands in the odd position of having W. Australian laws applying, but being represented in Australia's government along with Northern Territory, but at the same time not being represented in the legislatures of either Western Australia or the Northern Territory. Norfolk Island isn't even represented in the Australian legislature from what can be gathered on wikipedia's article on Australia's Electoral Divisions. This can be contrasted with Jervis Bay Territory which is represented in Australia's legislature along with ACT, has access to ACT courts and has ACT laws applied to it. It isn't represented in the ACT legislature either, but then neither does it seem to have any territorial terms with which to compare it to the states and other territories (no administrator or legislature, just the Jervis Bay Administration). So if all these external territories are territories of Australia and if they are inhabited and have some form of government structure then why exclude them from this section of an article about Australia's States and Territories (presumably all of Australia's territories too)? 72.27.92.79 18:27, 8 August 2007 (UTC)
Three questions:
So, how many? -- JackofOz ( talk) 22:58, 13 September 2008 (UTC)
Yes, an explanation is needed. I've lived in Australia (Melbourne) all my life and have never heard of Jervis Bay. That's why I said there are 8 when I reworded the lead. Balkan Fever not a fan? say so! 01:27, 14 September 2008 (UTC)
Why are there two pictures overlapping? Perhaps someone could put the two pictures in seperate boxes? I would do it myself, but I don't know how. QuackOfaThousandSuns ( talk) 02:58, 6 January 2009 (UTC)
Do the Australian stats each have their own constitutions, as do the states of Germany and the USA? - BilCat ( talk) 05:56, 6 May 2010 (UTC)
Yes the States of Australia do have their own Constitutions .
Lejon (
talk) 12:54, 25 May 2010 (UTC)
Should Nauru be added as a former territory of Australia? The administrative arrangements documents here [2] on an Australian governments website place Nauru as a territory of Australia, treated like the others. It was a UN territory given to Australia after WWII, and I think it should go on the list with Papua, North Australia, and Central Australia. Chipmunkdavis ( talk) 08:22, 3 August 2010 (UTC)
In the Comparative terminology table, for the Northern Territory and Norfolk, Christmas and Cocos Islands, why are we saying the upper house of parliament is the Administator? Surely the correct entry there is None, exactly as we have for the ACT. The Administrator appears under Domestic administrator. -- Jack of Oz ... speak! ... 11:20, 1 September 2010 (UTC)
Does anyone know which page explains the rights of states and territories, and how they are balanced by support from the federal government? Ninahexan ( talk) 02:27, 21 September 2010 (UTC)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Australian_politics - and there are a few ideas that might come from a close reading of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secessionism_in_Western_Australia Satu Suro 15:51, 21 September 2010 (UTC)
This is probably the last place to ask the question - the Australian politics or even the main Australian project noticeboard would be more approrpriate Satu Suro 23:19, 21 September 2010 (UTC)
If you gave the most acute answer then it seems that this was the second most approrpriate place to ask... 124.149.37.56 ( talk) 12:56, 31 October 2010 (UTC)
After restoring sorting to this table, I made some other changes that were later reverted. Although I can view the table nicely on my wide monitor, I wanted to improve its appearance for those without wide monitors. I'll describe some of these changes here in hopes of furthering a discussion and reaching a consensus.
Are there some other considerations I am missing? One alternative I haven't researched would be eliminating the column rule between the value column and the associated rank column. If this were done, the two columns would appear visually as a single column and so there would be no need for the "Rank" label or for having two sorting symbols. Any comments? YBG ( talk) 04:49, 26 April 2012 (UTC)
26 January 1788 is seared into all our memories as the day on which the Colony of NSW was founded. Except, IT WASN'T. Various proclamations were made that day, and certainly the physical possession of the continent by the British can reasonably date from then. But the formal legal promulgation of the Crown Colony of New South Wales did not take place until 12 days later, on 7 February 1788. [3]
Can someone who knows what they're doing fix the date on the map, please? -- Jack of Oz [Talk] 20:10, 3 December 2012 (UTC)
I've noticed that the Australian Bureau of Statistics excludes Norfolk Island in its population figures for Australia. Also, Norfolk Island doesn't appear to be part of any federal electoral division, although the other territories are. It seems as if Norfolk Island is in some sense an external territory belonging to Australia, closer to a "possession" than an integral part of the country.
It would be illuminating to have the status of Norfolk Island clarified somewhere in this article.
Ben Arnold ( talk) 07:25, 5 December 2014 (UTC)
This article already links to several languages, however I think it could link to some more, but for some reason this hasn't happen. Such languages that have articles similar to this one, but aren't already linked to it are: Spanish, Chinese, Polish, among others. Yet from what I can tell the titles of these articles are titled something that translates to "Territorial organization of Australia" however the contents of these articles are really similar to and those linked to this article. I'll like to do this myself but I don't know how to do this. -- Sion8 ( talk) 00:58, 15 April 2015 (UTC)
Thanks for responding @Infovarius. I don't think there should be a difference as to how they are titled as like you said they pretty much are dealing on the same topic. If you could like them all as one, 'cause they should be one linking list that would be great. Sion8 ( talk) 05:46, 21 August 2015 (UTC)
What does "Australian mainland" mean? Do most Australians share a common understanding of what "Australian mainland" or "the mainland" means? Plausible contenders include:
This sentence from the lede...
...seems to contradict itself: is Tasmania part of the mainland or in close proximity to it? Moreover, the wikilinked text "Australian mainland" in the quoted sentence points to Australia (continent), which includes New Guinea and more. By contrast, page-title Australian mainland simply redirects to Australia.
If there is consensus, please edit to make the above consistent. If there is no consensus, then I suggest page-title Australian mainland should be a DAB page. jnestorius( talk) 23:58, 6 August 2015 (UTC)
I didn't like the use of a Robinson projection in Australian external territories.png, so I made a version based on an orthographic projection: Australia states and territories blank.svg. I would like to get some opinions before I replace the image in the article, however.
Thanks for any input. -- Lasunncty ( talk) 07:43, 24 June 2016 (UTC)
Apparently the government reform of Norfolk Island taking affect on July 1 subjects it to New South Wales (NSW) state law, which some media are calling "absorption into NSW". However, voters in Norfolk are becoming constituents not of NSW, but of the Australian Capital Territory. Does anyone know what Norfolk will officially be after July 1? Still some kind of "external territory", and "internal territory", or neither (as would be expected if it's officially "part of NSW")? GeoEvan ( talk) 09:20, 29 June 2016 (UTC)
So what has happened with Norfolk Island's status, is it in or out side the Commonwealth of Australia? I mean they now can vote as part of the ACT, but don't have their local gov't anymore which many aren't happy about. -- Sion8 ( talk) 18:08, 13 June 2017 (UTC) Sion8 ( talk) 18:08, 13 June 2017 (UTC)
I tried to link this article with its Polish version ( Podział administracyjny Australii) on Wikidata but I'm having problems with it because the Polish article, along with a few other languages, is already part of Q4494320. Most other-language articles on the topic, including English, are part of Q178712, despite the fact that the two codes are about exactly the same topic. I don't know how to merge the two codes together so can someone please help me with this? Skewb? ( talk) 13:21, 8 January 2017 (UTC)
I've (mostly) reverted this recent edit, because I believe this sentence is fundamentally wrong:
The states and territories of Australia are the federation of six federated states, ...
The states and territories are not "the federation". "Federation" is either a process (which clearly the state/territories are not) or a group. The article is primarily about the states/territories as individual entities, not as a collective group. We have a separate article for the "the federation of six federated states, ...": Federation of Australia. Mitch Ames ( talk) 12:07, 7 July 2017 (UTC)
Help needed. I've managed some corrections to "internal territories" in the table, but can't get the "Administrator" column right. The entry "none"+ref applies only to the ACT. The NT has an Administrator, Vicki O'Halloran. Jervis Bay Territory should read "none"+ref and the ref would be "Administered by the Commonwealth.". Wikiain ( talk) 01:59, 14 June 2019 (UTC)
The article so far is about government in a legal sense. The actual governmental issues as to states and territories, however, are financial. Could editors with the requisite expertise please add a section (or two) on this? Wikiain ( talk) 08:25, 7 August 2019 (UTC)
The first table that lists the states and territories has a land area column, that appears to be inaccurate, in that the figures don't match the later "statistics" table in the same article, nor the site in the reference at http://www.ga.gov.au/scientific-topics/national-location-information/dimensions/area-of-australia-states-and-territories. I noticed because the areas summed to ~ 8.1 million km², more than the ~ 7.7 million km² usually given for the whole of Australia.
Jlittlenz ( talk) 10:19, 11 December 2019 (UTC)
Hey all! Just wanted to get some vibes here about how editors of this article are feeling about the scope of this article, as to me, someone who is somewhat removed from the editorial history of this article, this article is pretty much about the governance of Australian states and territories, with a few little general facts thrown in (like population data). This is pretty well demonstrated by the first sentence:
Government in the Commonwealth of Australia is exercised on three levels: federal, states and territories, and local government.
Is governance the primary scope of this article?
If so, how would we be feeling about moving this article (this isn't a formal move request, just a feeler) to Governance of Australian states and territories? This would then free up this article title for more concentrated info about the states and territories themselves, like the relationships between them and the Federal government, and more in-depth data and a bit more about the states and territories themselves (foundation, history, colonial past etc).
If not, then maybe there should be a bit of a focus on editing going forward to take governance out of this article, and if warranted, move it to an article of its own (i.e. pretty much ending at the same place as the above, just a different route)? This could involve combining the Governors and administrators of states and territories, Premiers and chief ministers of states and territories, State and territorial parliaments, State and territory supreme courts, and State and territory police forces sections into one more condensed section called Governance which just outlines the overarching structure and the really basic facts about government (number of LGAs, relationships with other states, brief history about politics in the state etc).
What are y'all thoughts? ItsPugle ( talk) 13:14, 2 July 2020 (UTC)
@ ItsPugle: Thank you for the work you've done to organize this article. There is a lot less redundancy now and it is much easier to follow. One comment I have is that I think I prefer having the larger map rather than just the small one in the infobox. It is difficult to see the labels and some of the smaller divisions. Is it possible to make the infobox bigger? Or could we use the unlabeled version in the infobox and have the larger labeled one below as it was before? -- Lasunncty ( talk) 09:02, 28 July 2020 (UTC)
{{
ping|ItsPugle}}
on reply) 23:36, 28 July 2020 (UTC)
Why does the main map for this article suck so badly? When you look at the articles for other countries, it shows the country as the main feature of the image, NOT the entire globe. This is unnecessary, and a little absurd. Despite the fact that it is considered a continent, the article is about the states and territories, so they should be the main feature of the map. Gil gosseyn ( talk) 21:40, 9 August 2020 (UTC)
{{
ping|ItsPugle}}
on reply) 03:33, 10 August 2020 (UTC)I don't think this is correct. The federal government and the federal parliament have much more control over the ACT and the NT.-- Jack Upland ( talk) 22:13, 10 March 2021 (UTC)
Jervis Bay Territory has no capital. The note above the table says that individual territory articles have references, but Jervis Bay Territory article mentions no capital. In the next table, "External territories," four territories are listed as having capital "None," which is correct, but then there's an unexplained italicized location in parentheses following "none." Nothing explains what the thing in parentheses is supposed to be. If it's meant to be some sort of quasi-capital, again, there's no reference for any of them. "None" seems sufficient in all cases. Holy ( talk) 04:49, 20 June 2021 (UTC)
I've removed this from another article, but perhaps it belongs on this one.-- Pharos ( talk) 18:18, 23 August 2021 (UTC)
I wonder about the relevance of this sub-section to the article. It's basically about the sub-state Main Structure of the Australian Statistical Geography Standard. I have a draft of a more complete article about the ASGS, which (once released as an article) could be referred to if felt necessary, but I think the whole sub-section can be deleted. Innesw ( talk) 11:40, 27 January 2024 (UTC)
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User:ZanderSchubert commented in June 2006 that the Comparative Terminology table was "ambiguous as it's impossible to tell where the cell borders are, and therefore which state/territory uses which name." I just read article for first time and was equally confused as it's still not corrected. If nobody knows how to create those "boxed" tables (I dont) may I suggest the author repeats the various titles against each state/territory, rather than showing the title at some ambiguous mid-point. Tiddy ( talk) 04:55, 18 October 2009 (UTC)
If you were to check the Public Service Style Manual you would find that the correct title for the head of Government in the Northern Territory is the Chief Minister FOR the Northern Territory.
Somin - I'm not so keen on your adjustments to the ACT Chief Minister situation - my original text pointed out that the Chief Minister is the only "popularly elected" chief executive in Australian government. Yes, he/she is elected by the Legislative assembly, but has to have been popularly elected to that assembly in the first place. Your revision, while accurate, seems to lose this distinction, in my opinion at least. Your thoughts? MMGB
I changed it because I was worried that "popularly elected" might be misinterpreted as meaning he/she was directly elected like how Presidents in several countries are (each voter casts their vote for a candidate, whichever candidate gets the most votes becomes President). I can see your point though. -- SJK
See Talk:Australian States and Territories/Australian states table generator for the Perl script used to generate the tables for the 8 States and territories of Australia.
I've added the state capitals here since I've done a redirect from Australian capital cities from this page. (Other options for re-direction include List of cities in Australia and List of capitals of sub-national entities, but I thought this page seemed like the best choice.)
I will also adjust Jervis Bay Territory on the list - it is a territory, but it isn't regarded as a territory the same as NT and ACT are. I think it may actually be administered as part of ACT, but I think the External Territories should be changed to 'Minor Territories' or something similar, and add JBT to that list. Chuq
A note about the changes I made to the "Honorable"s attached to the names of the state/territory political leaders.
Is there any reason why the states were changed to alphabetical order? One order is as good as any I guess, but I can't think of a reason to specifically change them? NSW-Vic-Qld-SA-WA-Tas-NT-ACT is pretty much the "standard" order for states - don't know why (approximately by population) but it just is - see post codes prefixes, etc. -- Chuq 11:03, 20 Nov 2004 (UTC)
The icons next to the states aren't very distinctive at that resolution. Would anyone object to using the state badges instead? This would lead to inconsistency between states and territories icons, but you'd get a better idea of what the picture was, so it'd have a bit more value IMHO. — Felix the Cassowary ( ɑe hɪː jɐ) 14:05, 30 October 2005 (UTC)
Ashmore and Cartier Islands' page says its part of Northern Territory. I don't know which one is right
The result of the debate was move. — Nightst a llion (?) 07:04, 6 February 2006 (UTC)
Australian States and Territories → States and territories of Australia – The proposed article name/format is consistent with almost all other articles concerning national subdivisions (e.g., Provinces and territories of Canada). E Pluribus Anthony | talk | 01:45, 31 January 2006 (UTC)
I'm not particularly opposed to the move, but I don't support it either. However, I will say that it's most inappropriate to move a page as prominent as this without discussion. There are many corresponding structures that will now need to be updated to conform with the new title (I won't propose it be moved back). Categories are one instance. If this change persists, I suggest that Category:Australian states and territories be deprecated and that Category:Subdivisions of Australia take its place with Category:States of Australia and Category:Territories of Australia as subcategories. I've left a note at the Australian Wikipedians' Notice Board for further input.-- cj | talk 03:48, 31 January 2006 (UTC)
I support dropping the joined category and using what you suggested. Tobias Conradi (Talk) 13:04, 31 January 2006 (UTC)
I wonder if the top-level category should be named Category:Subnational entities of Australia instead (I only suggest this given the apparent prevalence of that term in Wp) ... I don't see there being a problem using categories and subcategories, and also using whatever is consistently used throughout Wp. E Pluribus Anthony | talk | 13:34, 31 January 2006 (UTC)
The prevalent term is subnational entity and the 2nd most used is "subdivision" ( Category:Subdivisions by country). Subdivision is shorter and when used with the name of a region (mostly a country) then it is not ambigous as when used alone. Tobias Conradi (Talk) 13:43, 31 January 2006 (UTC)
I am about to delete from the article history those revisions whose content and/or edit summaries libel Xtra, per Wikipedia's libel policy. Selective deletion requires full deletion followed by selective restoration. Therefore this article will be deleted for a very brief period of time. Snottygobble 04:02, 10 April 2006 (UTC)
The section "State and Territory Codes" lists Lord Howe Island. This is not a territory, but an integral part of New South Wales. I tried to remove it but my table formatting skills let me down. Anyone?? JackofOz 06:59, 16 April 2006 (UTC)
The short lived territory's details have been added. Move it to somewhere else if you think it is more appropriate, but I believe it should be included somewhere. Kransky 06:45, 11 June 2006 (UTC)
Can someone who is good with Wiki tables please edit the 'Compared Terminology' table? As it currently appears (at least on my computer) the names of (for example) the houses of parliament are ambiguous as it's impossible to tell where the cell borders are, and therefore which state/territory uses which name. ZanderSchubert 03:39, 21 June 2006 (UTC)
I say no way, José..... These are all common terms to varying degrees. How is it going to help someone from overseas, looking for a definition, to be redirected to States and territories of Australia? Grant65 | Talk 05:36, 14 November 2006 (UTC)
In the infobox of each state article, the form of government is listed as "constitutional monarchy". Is this really true? Is the head of state of Western Australia a monarch? That is, is Elizabeth the Queen of Western Australia, along with all the other things she is queen of? I do see how this is not a clear-cut issue, because she does appoint the Governors (and I would assume that her choice is, in theory, unrestricted). But the infoboxes of other state articles, like Alberta, Oregon and Bavaria, don't list a form of government at all. Wouldn't that be the best solution here too? -- Jao 11:46, 1 July 2007 (UTC)
NO the states are not separate from the Commonwealth -- and they are component parts of the Commonwealth and are subject to the Constitution of the Commonwealth . If the Constitution of the Commonwealth was changed to eliminate the ' Queen of Australia ' then the Governors of the States would not be able to give their assent- ' in the Queens name ' to state Laws . There is no law which authorises Elizabeth II to ' act' as the Queen of any State. Access to the Monarch by the States is as ' Queen of Australia '. It is important to remember that at Federation the colonies ceased to exist and became ' states of the Commonwealth ' . Lejon 15 March 2008 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 61.68.11.244 ( talk) 13:42, 14 March 2008 (UTC)
In 1975 the Queensland Government tried to establish the ' Queen ' as Queen of Queensland - a challenge was heard in the High Court and the attempt was rejected . Here is part of Murphy J 's summation --
"In truth, the Queensland Act is incompatible with the unity of the "one indissoluble Federal Commonwealth" which was established by the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act. The Constitution Act is the authority for the Constitution of Queensland and the powers of its Parliament (Constitution ss. 106, 107). (at p337) 27. The establishment by an Australian State of a relationship with another country under which a governmental organ (judicial or otherwise) of that country is to advise the State on the questions and matters referred to in the Act, is quite inconsistent with the integrity of Australia as an independent sovereign nation in the world community. It is not within the legislative competence of the Parliament of any State to compromise or attempts to compromise Australian sovereignty and independence. (at p337)" .
Please see also some more excerpts discussing the relationship of the States to the Commonwealth at ' Australia Act 1986 ' ( wikipedia ) Note - the States did not continue as ' colonies ' after the Statute of Westminster -- simply because they were not colonies before the Statute . There was no ' dual ' Monarchy after 1931/1942 . A higer level of autonomy was granted at the Federal level but that level was not extended to the second level of Australian Government . Lejon ( talk) 04:21, 27 July 2009 (UTC)
Recently I was bold and added the terminology used in the inhabited external territories to the comparative terminology section. The title of the section and nothing in the section ever suggested that it was restricted only to the States and the Northern Territory, and seeing that none of the external territories are represented in any state or mainland territory's local legislature, I added them. User CJ however, reverted the edit with the simple explanation that they are not the same thing (which is pretty obvious), but doesn't explain why they are to be excluded. It is true that the Christmas Island and Cocos (Keeling) Islands are represented in the Australian Parliament as part of a electoral division encompassing a section of Northern Territory, but they are distinct. They have separate administrators (or in this case a shared administrator separate from the Northern Territory administrator) and are not represented in Northern Territory Legislative Assembly. In addition, the laws of Western Australia apply to Christmas Island and the Cocos Islands, which of course leaves the islands in the odd position of having W. Australian laws applying, but being represented in Australia's government along with Northern Territory, but at the same time not being represented in the legislatures of either Western Australia or the Northern Territory. Norfolk Island isn't even represented in the Australian legislature from what can be gathered on wikipedia's article on Australia's Electoral Divisions. This can be contrasted with Jervis Bay Territory which is represented in Australia's legislature along with ACT, has access to ACT courts and has ACT laws applied to it. It isn't represented in the ACT legislature either, but then neither does it seem to have any territorial terms with which to compare it to the states and other territories (no administrator or legislature, just the Jervis Bay Administration). So if all these external territories are territories of Australia and if they are inhabited and have some form of government structure then why exclude them from this section of an article about Australia's States and Territories (presumably all of Australia's territories too)? 72.27.92.79 18:27, 8 August 2007 (UTC)
Three questions:
So, how many? -- JackofOz ( talk) 22:58, 13 September 2008 (UTC)
Yes, an explanation is needed. I've lived in Australia (Melbourne) all my life and have never heard of Jervis Bay. That's why I said there are 8 when I reworded the lead. Balkan Fever not a fan? say so! 01:27, 14 September 2008 (UTC)
Why are there two pictures overlapping? Perhaps someone could put the two pictures in seperate boxes? I would do it myself, but I don't know how. QuackOfaThousandSuns ( talk) 02:58, 6 January 2009 (UTC)
Do the Australian stats each have their own constitutions, as do the states of Germany and the USA? - BilCat ( talk) 05:56, 6 May 2010 (UTC)
Yes the States of Australia do have their own Constitutions .
Lejon (
talk) 12:54, 25 May 2010 (UTC)
Should Nauru be added as a former territory of Australia? The administrative arrangements documents here [2] on an Australian governments website place Nauru as a territory of Australia, treated like the others. It was a UN territory given to Australia after WWII, and I think it should go on the list with Papua, North Australia, and Central Australia. Chipmunkdavis ( talk) 08:22, 3 August 2010 (UTC)
In the Comparative terminology table, for the Northern Territory and Norfolk, Christmas and Cocos Islands, why are we saying the upper house of parliament is the Administator? Surely the correct entry there is None, exactly as we have for the ACT. The Administrator appears under Domestic administrator. -- Jack of Oz ... speak! ... 11:20, 1 September 2010 (UTC)
Does anyone know which page explains the rights of states and territories, and how they are balanced by support from the federal government? Ninahexan ( talk) 02:27, 21 September 2010 (UTC)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Australian_politics - and there are a few ideas that might come from a close reading of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secessionism_in_Western_Australia Satu Suro 15:51, 21 September 2010 (UTC)
This is probably the last place to ask the question - the Australian politics or even the main Australian project noticeboard would be more approrpriate Satu Suro 23:19, 21 September 2010 (UTC)
If you gave the most acute answer then it seems that this was the second most approrpriate place to ask... 124.149.37.56 ( talk) 12:56, 31 October 2010 (UTC)
After restoring sorting to this table, I made some other changes that were later reverted. Although I can view the table nicely on my wide monitor, I wanted to improve its appearance for those without wide monitors. I'll describe some of these changes here in hopes of furthering a discussion and reaching a consensus.
Are there some other considerations I am missing? One alternative I haven't researched would be eliminating the column rule between the value column and the associated rank column. If this were done, the two columns would appear visually as a single column and so there would be no need for the "Rank" label or for having two sorting symbols. Any comments? YBG ( talk) 04:49, 26 April 2012 (UTC)
26 January 1788 is seared into all our memories as the day on which the Colony of NSW was founded. Except, IT WASN'T. Various proclamations were made that day, and certainly the physical possession of the continent by the British can reasonably date from then. But the formal legal promulgation of the Crown Colony of New South Wales did not take place until 12 days later, on 7 February 1788. [3]
Can someone who knows what they're doing fix the date on the map, please? -- Jack of Oz [Talk] 20:10, 3 December 2012 (UTC)
I've noticed that the Australian Bureau of Statistics excludes Norfolk Island in its population figures for Australia. Also, Norfolk Island doesn't appear to be part of any federal electoral division, although the other territories are. It seems as if Norfolk Island is in some sense an external territory belonging to Australia, closer to a "possession" than an integral part of the country.
It would be illuminating to have the status of Norfolk Island clarified somewhere in this article.
Ben Arnold ( talk) 07:25, 5 December 2014 (UTC)
This article already links to several languages, however I think it could link to some more, but for some reason this hasn't happen. Such languages that have articles similar to this one, but aren't already linked to it are: Spanish, Chinese, Polish, among others. Yet from what I can tell the titles of these articles are titled something that translates to "Territorial organization of Australia" however the contents of these articles are really similar to and those linked to this article. I'll like to do this myself but I don't know how to do this. -- Sion8 ( talk) 00:58, 15 April 2015 (UTC)
Thanks for responding @Infovarius. I don't think there should be a difference as to how they are titled as like you said they pretty much are dealing on the same topic. If you could like them all as one, 'cause they should be one linking list that would be great. Sion8 ( talk) 05:46, 21 August 2015 (UTC)
What does "Australian mainland" mean? Do most Australians share a common understanding of what "Australian mainland" or "the mainland" means? Plausible contenders include:
This sentence from the lede...
...seems to contradict itself: is Tasmania part of the mainland or in close proximity to it? Moreover, the wikilinked text "Australian mainland" in the quoted sentence points to Australia (continent), which includes New Guinea and more. By contrast, page-title Australian mainland simply redirects to Australia.
If there is consensus, please edit to make the above consistent. If there is no consensus, then I suggest page-title Australian mainland should be a DAB page. jnestorius( talk) 23:58, 6 August 2015 (UTC)
I didn't like the use of a Robinson projection in Australian external territories.png, so I made a version based on an orthographic projection: Australia states and territories blank.svg. I would like to get some opinions before I replace the image in the article, however.
Thanks for any input. -- Lasunncty ( talk) 07:43, 24 June 2016 (UTC)
Apparently the government reform of Norfolk Island taking affect on July 1 subjects it to New South Wales (NSW) state law, which some media are calling "absorption into NSW". However, voters in Norfolk are becoming constituents not of NSW, but of the Australian Capital Territory. Does anyone know what Norfolk will officially be after July 1? Still some kind of "external territory", and "internal territory", or neither (as would be expected if it's officially "part of NSW")? GeoEvan ( talk) 09:20, 29 June 2016 (UTC)
So what has happened with Norfolk Island's status, is it in or out side the Commonwealth of Australia? I mean they now can vote as part of the ACT, but don't have their local gov't anymore which many aren't happy about. -- Sion8 ( talk) 18:08, 13 June 2017 (UTC) Sion8 ( talk) 18:08, 13 June 2017 (UTC)
I tried to link this article with its Polish version ( Podział administracyjny Australii) on Wikidata but I'm having problems with it because the Polish article, along with a few other languages, is already part of Q4494320. Most other-language articles on the topic, including English, are part of Q178712, despite the fact that the two codes are about exactly the same topic. I don't know how to merge the two codes together so can someone please help me with this? Skewb? ( talk) 13:21, 8 January 2017 (UTC)
I've (mostly) reverted this recent edit, because I believe this sentence is fundamentally wrong:
The states and territories of Australia are the federation of six federated states, ...
The states and territories are not "the federation". "Federation" is either a process (which clearly the state/territories are not) or a group. The article is primarily about the states/territories as individual entities, not as a collective group. We have a separate article for the "the federation of six federated states, ...": Federation of Australia. Mitch Ames ( talk) 12:07, 7 July 2017 (UTC)
Help needed. I've managed some corrections to "internal territories" in the table, but can't get the "Administrator" column right. The entry "none"+ref applies only to the ACT. The NT has an Administrator, Vicki O'Halloran. Jervis Bay Territory should read "none"+ref and the ref would be "Administered by the Commonwealth.". Wikiain ( talk) 01:59, 14 June 2019 (UTC)
The article so far is about government in a legal sense. The actual governmental issues as to states and territories, however, are financial. Could editors with the requisite expertise please add a section (or two) on this? Wikiain ( talk) 08:25, 7 August 2019 (UTC)
The first table that lists the states and territories has a land area column, that appears to be inaccurate, in that the figures don't match the later "statistics" table in the same article, nor the site in the reference at http://www.ga.gov.au/scientific-topics/national-location-information/dimensions/area-of-australia-states-and-territories. I noticed because the areas summed to ~ 8.1 million km², more than the ~ 7.7 million km² usually given for the whole of Australia.
Jlittlenz ( talk) 10:19, 11 December 2019 (UTC)
Hey all! Just wanted to get some vibes here about how editors of this article are feeling about the scope of this article, as to me, someone who is somewhat removed from the editorial history of this article, this article is pretty much about the governance of Australian states and territories, with a few little general facts thrown in (like population data). This is pretty well demonstrated by the first sentence:
Government in the Commonwealth of Australia is exercised on three levels: federal, states and territories, and local government.
Is governance the primary scope of this article?
If so, how would we be feeling about moving this article (this isn't a formal move request, just a feeler) to Governance of Australian states and territories? This would then free up this article title for more concentrated info about the states and territories themselves, like the relationships between them and the Federal government, and more in-depth data and a bit more about the states and territories themselves (foundation, history, colonial past etc).
If not, then maybe there should be a bit of a focus on editing going forward to take governance out of this article, and if warranted, move it to an article of its own (i.e. pretty much ending at the same place as the above, just a different route)? This could involve combining the Governors and administrators of states and territories, Premiers and chief ministers of states and territories, State and territorial parliaments, State and territory supreme courts, and State and territory police forces sections into one more condensed section called Governance which just outlines the overarching structure and the really basic facts about government (number of LGAs, relationships with other states, brief history about politics in the state etc).
What are y'all thoughts? ItsPugle ( talk) 13:14, 2 July 2020 (UTC)
@ ItsPugle: Thank you for the work you've done to organize this article. There is a lot less redundancy now and it is much easier to follow. One comment I have is that I think I prefer having the larger map rather than just the small one in the infobox. It is difficult to see the labels and some of the smaller divisions. Is it possible to make the infobox bigger? Or could we use the unlabeled version in the infobox and have the larger labeled one below as it was before? -- Lasunncty ( talk) 09:02, 28 July 2020 (UTC)
{{
ping|ItsPugle}}
on reply) 23:36, 28 July 2020 (UTC)
Why does the main map for this article suck so badly? When you look at the articles for other countries, it shows the country as the main feature of the image, NOT the entire globe. This is unnecessary, and a little absurd. Despite the fact that it is considered a continent, the article is about the states and territories, so they should be the main feature of the map. Gil gosseyn ( talk) 21:40, 9 August 2020 (UTC)
{{
ping|ItsPugle}}
on reply) 03:33, 10 August 2020 (UTC)I don't think this is correct. The federal government and the federal parliament have much more control over the ACT and the NT.-- Jack Upland ( talk) 22:13, 10 March 2021 (UTC)
Jervis Bay Territory has no capital. The note above the table says that individual territory articles have references, but Jervis Bay Territory article mentions no capital. In the next table, "External territories," four territories are listed as having capital "None," which is correct, but then there's an unexplained italicized location in parentheses following "none." Nothing explains what the thing in parentheses is supposed to be. If it's meant to be some sort of quasi-capital, again, there's no reference for any of them. "None" seems sufficient in all cases. Holy ( talk) 04:49, 20 June 2021 (UTC)
I've removed this from another article, but perhaps it belongs on this one.-- Pharos ( talk) 18:18, 23 August 2021 (UTC)
I wonder about the relevance of this sub-section to the article. It's basically about the sub-state Main Structure of the Australian Statistical Geography Standard. I have a draft of a more complete article about the ASGS, which (once released as an article) could be referred to if felt necessary, but I think the whole sub-section can be deleted. Innesw ( talk) 11:40, 27 January 2024 (UTC)