# Australian states questions.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-states-questions/486701
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [February 20, 2009, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-states-questions/486701 "2009-02-20T10:43:28Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2009, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-states-questions/486701/1 "2009-02-20T10:43:28Z")
I have a few questions about Australian politics.
How come Northern Territory is not (yet) a state?
What difference does being a territory make?
Was there ever any demand that individual states should have sovereignty?
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### Author:  [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2009, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-states-questions/486701/2 "2009-02-20T10:53:07Z")
Secessionism crops up from time to time in [Western Australia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secessionism_in_Western_Australia#1933_referendum).
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### Author:  [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2009, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-states-questions/486701/3 "2009-02-20T11:00:16Z")
It’s still a state because last time they held a referendum on the question(1998) people voted to retain the status quo.
See this [wiki.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Territory#Government)
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### Author:  [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2009, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-states-questions/486701/4 "2009-02-20T11:05:44Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#):
>
> I have a few questions about Australian politics.
>
> How come Northern Territory is not (yet) a state?
The short answer is that there aren’t enough people there. The entire[Northern Territory](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Territory) only has a population of about 220,000 and it takes up a siezeable part of the country (it’s the 3rd biggest Federal Division of Australia). For some reason the locals seem to like it that way- they were offered Statehood not all that long ago and said “No thanks.”
> [@](#):
>
> What difference does being a territory make?
The main one is that the Commonwealth Government can step in and over-ride legislation and generally tell the Legislative Assembly what to do; there are Constitutionally delineated limits on Commonwealth and State powers and responsibilites (ie, there are things that are Constitutionally up to individual states to sort out, such as road rules and driver licensing, and things which are the Commonwealth’s responsibility alone, such as Defence and the Post Office and so on) which are not applicable to a Territory for the most part.
Also, Territories can be detached from Australia (cf [Territory of Papua and New Guinea](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Territory_of_Papua_and_New_Guinea),) but there’s no constitutional provision for a State to leave the Commonwealth once it has been admitted.
> [@](#):
>
> Was there ever any demand that individual states should have sovereignty?
[Western Australia has had a pretty strong Secessionist movement in the past](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secessionism_in_Western_Australia), but otherwise the short answer is “No”, for the most part.
Having said that, [there are proposals for new States](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proposals_for_new_Australian_States). It’s not likely to happen anytime soon, if ever, though.
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### Author:  [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2009, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-states-questions/486701/5 "2009-02-20T13:09:03Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#):
>
> How come Northern Territory is not (yet) a state?
Because it doesn’t want it because it would lose significant federal funding.
> [@](#):
>
> What difference does being a territory make?
See answer one.
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### Author:  [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2009, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-states-questions/486701/6 "2009-02-20T13:47:31Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#):
>
> Was there ever any demand that individual states should have sovereignty?
Well, apart from secessionists in Western Australia, as already mentioned, the individual states do have sovereignty, just as the states in the United States do. It’s the limited sovereignty of a state within a federation, but it does still exist. In the case of the Australian states, among other things, it means that they each have a Queen, who is a different legal person from the Queen of Australia and from the Queen of the United Kingdom (though, of course, it’s the same real person).
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### Author:  [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2009, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-states-questions/486701/7 "2009-02-20T13:51:26Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#):
>
> Also, Territories can be detached from Australia (cf [Territory of Papua and New Guinea](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Territory_of_Papua_and_New_Guinea),) but there’s no constitutional provision for a State to leave the Commonwealth once it has been admitted.
That’s right: for a state to leave the Commonwealth of Australia legally, there would need to be an amendment to the Australian Constitution. That’s not likely to happen in the foreseeable future.