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States and territories of Australia
Location	Australia
Number	16 (6 states, 3 internal territories, and 7 external territories)
Populations	Smallest state: Tasmania 541,071 Largest state: New South Wales 8,166,369 Smallest territories: Ashmore and Cartier Islands 0 (uninhabited) Heard Island and McDonald Islands 0 (uninhabited) Largest territory: Australian Capital Territory 431,215
Areas	Smallest state: Tasmania 64,519 km2 (24,911 sq mi) Largest state: Western Australia 2,527,013 km2 (975,685 sq mi) Smallest territory: Cocos (Keeling) Islands 14 km2 (5.4 sq mi) Largest territories: Northern Territory 1,347,791 km2 (520,385 sq mi) Australian Antarctic Territory[a] 5,896,500 km2 (2,276,700 sq mi)
Subdivisions	Local government areas and unincorporated areas

The states and territories are the second level of government of Australia. The states are administrative divisions that are self-governing polities that are partly sovereign, having ceded some sovereign rights to the federal government.^[2] They have their own constitutions, legislatures, executive governments, judiciaries and law enforcement agencies that administer and deliver public policies and programs. Territories can be autonomous and administer local policies and programs much like the states in practice, but are still legally subordinate to the federal government.

Australia has six federated states: New South Wales (including Lord Howe Island), Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania (including Macquarie Island), Victoria, and Western Australia. Australia also has ten federal territories,^[3] out of which three are internal territories: the Australian Capital Territory, the Jervis Bay Territory, and the Northern Territory^[3] on the Australian mainland; and seven are external territories: the Ashmore and Cartier Islands, the Australian Antarctic Territory,^[a] Christmas Island, the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, the Coral Sea Islands, Heard Island and McDonald Islands, and Norfolk Island^[3] that are offshore dependent territories. Every state and internal territory (except the Jervis Bay Territory) is self-governing with its own independent executive government, legislative branch, and judicial system, while the rest only have local government status overseen by federal departments.

State and territory governments may legislate on matters concerning their citizens, subject to the limits of the federal constitution (notably section 51 and section 109). Each state and internal territory (except Jervis Bay Territory) has its own legislature, although the Federal Parliament can override territorial legislation. The federal High Court of Australia acts as a final court of appeal for all matters, and has the authority to override any state judiciary. While all states and internal territories have their own judicial system (subject to appeal to the High Court), most external territories are subject to the judiciary and legislature of either a state or internal territory. Excluding the Heard Island and McDonald Islands and the Australian Antarctic Territory (which are governed by the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water), the external territories are governed by the federal Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts.^[4]Norfolk Island had its own legislature from 1979 to 2015.^[5]

Each state is a successor to historical British colonies, and each has its own constitution. The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) and Northern Territory for the most part operate indistinguishably from the states, even though they do not have constitutional status as states and territorial legislation can be overridden.

Geography

Surrounded by the Indian, Pacific, and Southern oceans, Australia is separated from Maritime Southeast Asia and New Guinea by the Arafura Sea, the Timor Sea, and the Torres Strait, from Island Melanesia by the Coral Sea, and from New Zealand by the Tasman Sea. The world's smallest continent, Australia is also the sixth-largest country by land area and sometimes considered the world's largest island. Australia has a mainland coastline of 32,994 kilometres (20,502 mi)^[6] and claims an exclusive economic zone of about 8,200,000 square kilometres (3,200,000 sq mi).^[7]

Borders

• Australian Capital Territory borders
• New South Welsh borders
• Northern Territory borders
• Queensland borders
• South Australian borders
• Tasmanian borders
• Victorian borders
• Western Australian borders

States and territories

At Federation in 1901, what is now the Northern Territory was within South Australia, what are now the Australian Capital Territory and Jervis Bay Territory were within New South Wales, and Coral Sea Islands was part of Queensland. Ashmore and Cartier Islands was accepted by Australia in 1934^[8] and was annexed to the Northern Territory prior to adoption of the Statute of Westminster in 1942, deemed effective from 1939; it has thus become part of Australia.

States

States of Australia^[b]

Flag	State	Postal	ISO[9]	Capital	Population (Sept 2023)[10]	Area (km2)[11]	Population Density (/km2)	No. of Reps. in Aus House[12]	Governor	Premier (Party)		State Government
	New South Wales	NSW	AU-NSW	Sydney	8,394,714	800,150	10.24	47	Margaret Beazley		Chris Minns (Labor)	Government of New South Wales
	Victoria	VIC	AU-VIC	Melbourne	6,865,358	227,416	28.47	38	Margaret Gardner		Jacinta Allan (Labor)	Victorian Government
	Queensland	QLD	AU-QLD	Brisbane	5,495,524	1,729,742	2.93	30	Jeannette Young		Steven Miles (Labor)	Queensland Government
	Western Australia	WA	AU-WA	Perth[c]	2,905,922	2,527,013	1.08	16	Chris Dawson		Roger Cook (Labor)	Government of Western Australia
	South Australia	SA	AU-SA	Adelaide	1,860,054	984,321	1.77	10	Frances Adamson		Peter Malinauskas (Labor)	Government of South Australia
	Tasmania	TAS	AU-TAS	Hobart	573,328	64,519	6.31	5	Barbara Baker		Jeremy Rockliff (Liberal)	Tasmanian Government

Territories

Internal territories

Internal territories of Australia^[d]

Flag	Territory	Postal	ISO[9]	Capital (or largest settlement)	Population (Sept 2023)[10]	Area (km2)[11]	Population Density (/km2)	No. of Reps. in Aus House[12]	Administrator	Chief Minister (Party)		Territory Government
	Australian Capital Territory	ACT	AU-ACT	Canberra	469,194	2,358	192	3	None[e]		Andrew Barr (Labor)	ACT Government
	Northern Territory	NT	AU-NT	Darwin	252,469	1,347,791	0.18	2	Hugh Heggie		Eva Lawler (Labor)	Northern Territory Government
	Jervis Bay Territory	ACT	–	None (Jervis Bay Village)	405	67	6.04	(Part of Division of Fenner)	None[f]	None

External territories

External territories of Australia^[g]

Flag	Territory	Postal	ISO[9]	Capital (or largest settlement)	Population (Jun 2018)[10]	Area (km2)[11]	Population Density (/km2)	Seats in House of Representatives	Administrator	Shire President or Mayor
	Norfolk Island	NSW	NF	Kingston	2,601	35	74	(Part of Division of Bean)	George Plant	Robin Adams (mayor)[13]
	Christmas Island	WA	CX	Flying Fish Cove	1,938	135	14	(Part of Division of Lingiari)	Farzian Zainal	Gordon Thompson
	Cocos (Keeling) Islands	WA	CC	West Island	547	14	39	(Part of Division of Lingiari)	Farzian Zainal	Aindil Minkom[14]
	Australian Antarctic Territory[a]	TAS	AQ[h]	None (Davis Station)	60[i]	5,896,500	0.0000102	–	None	None
	Coral Sea Islands	QLD	–	None (Willis Island)	4[j]	780,000[k]	0.000005	–	None	None
	Ashmore and Cartier Islands	–	–	None (offshore anchorage)	0	199	0	–	None	None
	Heard Island and McDonald Islands	TAS	HM	None (Atlas Cove)	0	372	0	–	None	None

Each external territory is regulated by an Act of the federal Parliament. These Acts contain the majority of provisions determining the legal and political structure applying in that external territory. Under s 122 of the Australian Constitution the federal Parliament has plenary power to make laws for all territories including all external territories.^[16]

The Cocos (Keeling) Islands voted for integration in 1984. Together with Christmas Island, these two territories comprise the Australian Indian Ocean Territories. Commonwealth laws apply automatically to the territories unless expressly stated otherwise^[17] and residents of both external territories are associated with Northern Territory for federal elections. They are, thus, constitutionally part of Australia.

The Heard Island and McDonald Islands, although uninhabited, are treated as constitutionally part of Australia by the central government.^[18]

Norfolk Island's status is controversial, with the present (as of 2018^[update]) government taking measures to integrate the territory into Australia proper (including representation in parliament and compulsory voting). The Norfolk Islanders have not formally consented to this change in constitutional status and assert that they are not Australian.^[5]

Integration of territories with small populations

Territory	Ref.	Subject to laws of	Subject to courts of	Part of electorate of
				for House	for Senate
Christmas Island	[19]	Western Australia[a]		Division of Lingiari	Northern Territory
Cocos (Keeling) Islands	[20]
Jervis Bay Territory	[21]	Australian Capital Territory[a]		Division of Fenner	Australian Capital Territory
Norfolk Island	[22] [23] [24]	Norfolk Island[b] New South Wales[a] Queensland[a]	Norfolk Island	Division of Bean
Ashmore and Cartier Islands	[25]	Northern Territory		(no permanent population)
Australian Antarctic Territory	[26]	Australian Capital Territory
Heard Island and McDonald Islands	[27]
Coral Sea Islands	[28][29]	Australian Capital Territory	Norfolk Island

Notes

Former territories

Zdroj:https://en.wikipedia.org?pojem=States_of_Australia
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