States and territories of Australia
overarching divisions of authority in Australia
The states and territories are the sub-national constituent entities and the second level of government of Australia. The states are partially-sovereign administrative divisions that function as self-governing polities, having ceded some sovereign rights to the federal government. They have their own constitutions, legislatures, executive governments, judiciaries, law enforcement agencies and emergency services that administer and deliver public policies and programs. Territories can be autonomous and administer 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, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, and Western Australia; and two self-governing federal territories: the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) and the Northern Territory. Australia has a total of ten federal territories, which includes three internal territories on the mainland: the aforementioned ACT and Northern Territory as well as the Jervis Bay Territory, which is governed for most purposes by the laws of the ACT and is administered by the Commonwealth Government. The remaining seven federal territories are offshore dependent territories known as external territories: the Ashmore and Cartier Islands, the Australian Antarctic Territory, Christmas Island, the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, the Coral Sea Islands, Heard Island and McDonald Islands, and Norfolk Island. With the exception of Jervis Bay Territory, every state and internal territory is self-governing with its own independent executive government, legislature, 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 the Jervis Bay Territory) has its own legislature; the Federal Parliament can override territorial legislation, but this is extremely rare.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “States and territories of Australia” is overarching divisions of authority in Australia. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through States, territories and Australia, not as a finished interpretation.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 16, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q178712. The Library of Congress control number is sh2005020056. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
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This entry incorporates text from “States and territories of Australia” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.