Why the Northern Territory isn’t a state
The Northern Territory covers a sixth of Australia and has its own parliament, but it isn’t a state. Its powers are on loan from Canberra, which has used its power to overrule it, and in 1998 Territorians narrowly voted against becoming the seventh state.
Written from cited sourcesLast checked 9 October 2026Suggest a correction
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South Australia’s far north
South Australia asked for the land in the north after explorers reported good cattle country, and Britain granted it in 1863. South Australian governments never made it pay. Their first settlement failed, and Palmerston, founded on Port Darwin in 1869, survived thanks to the Overland Telegraph line built across the continent in the early 1870s.[3]
In 1911 South Australia surrendered the territory to the new Commonwealth of Australia, and Palmerston was renamed Darwin the same year.[2][3]
Powers on loan
Section 122 of Australia’s constitution gives the federal parliament full power to make laws for the territories; their own governments exist under federal acts.[4] For decades Territorians had little say. They won two senators from 1975, and a seat in the House of Representatives was guaranteed only in 1990.[2]
Campaigning in 1975, Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser promised “statehood in five years”. Instead the Territory got self-government in 1978, under a federal law, the Northern Territory (Self-Government) Act.[2] Until then it had been constitutionally inferior to the states, with limited powers to make laws.[1]
The law Canberra overturned
In 1995 the Territory’s parliament passed the Rights of the Terminally Ill Act, a voluntary euthanasia law. Because the Territory’s powers come from a federal act, the federal parliament could change that act.[4] A private member’s bill from Kevin Andrews did so: the Senate passed it 38 votes to 33 in a free vote on 24 March 1997, and the Euthanasia Laws Act came into force three days later. It overrode the Territory’s law and stopped the territories from passing laws allowing euthanasia.[4]
By 2022 every state had legalised voluntary assisted dying, and supporters of the territories argued Territorians were being treated as second-class citizens.[4] The Restoring Territory Rights Act, which lifted the ban, became law on 13 December 2022.[5][4]
No to statehood
In August 1998 Prime Minister John Howard said the federal government had agreed in principle to make the Territory a state, if Territorians voted for it. In the referendum on 3 October 1998, 51.3% voted no.[2]
A Territory parliamentary committee found that people had voted no because they didn’t understand what statehood meant, felt left out of the process and distrusted the politicians leading it. Aboriginal voters also feared losing rights they already had, especially land rights.[2] Territory governments kept statehood on the agenda, and in 2006 the Territory appointed its first Minister for Statehood.[2]
Timeline
1863
Granted to South Australia
Britain hands the north to South Australia.[3]
1869
Palmerston
A settlement is founded on Port Darwin.[3]
1911
To the Commonwealth
South Australia gives up the territory; Palmerston becomes Darwin.[2][3]
1978
Self-government
A federal act gives the Territory its own government.[2]
199724 March 1997
Overruled
The Senate passes the Euthanasia Laws Act, 38 to 33.[4]
19983 October 1998
Statehood rejected
51.3% of Territorians vote no.[2]
202213 December 2022
Rights restored
The ban on territory assisted-dying laws is lifted.[5]
More autonomous regions
Sources
- [1]Northern Territory · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- [2]The long road to statehood, chapter 2: The historical context of Northern Territory statehood · House of Representatives Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs, Parliament of Australia · 2007
- [3]Northern Territory: History · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- [4]Restoring Territory Rights Bill 2022 (Bills Digest No. 5, 2022–23) · Parliamentary Library, Parliament of Australia · 2022
- [5]Restoring Territory Rights Act 2022 (No. 95, 2022) · Federal Register of Legislation · 13 December 2022
- [6]Northern Territory (relation 2316594) · OpenStreetMap contributors
Outline, clipped to the coastline the site draws.
Map geometry from Natural Earth via world-atlas. See credits.