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.

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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[lower-alpha 1] 5,896,500 km2 (2,276,700 sq mi)
Subdivisions	Local government areas and unincorporated areas

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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,^{[lower-alpha 1]} 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.

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]

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.

The majority of Australians live in the eastern coastal mainland states of New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, and the Australian Capital Territory, which collectively forms 79% of the entire population of Australia (more than three-quarters of all Australians). Most of the major population centres are located east and south of the Great Dividing Range on the coastal plains and their associated hinterland regions.

More information State / territory, Abbreviation ...

State / territory	Abbreviation	Land area[11]			Population (2021 census)		Population density			% of population in capital		Notes
		km2	sq mi	Rank	Number	Rank	/km2	/sq mi	Rank	%	Rank
New South Wales	NSW	801,150	309,330	5	8,072,163	1	9.62	24.9	3	63.0%	5	[32]
Victoria	VIC	227,444	87,817	6	6,503,491	2	26.56	68.8	2	71.0%	4	[33]
Queensland	QLD	1,729,742	667,857	2	5,156,138	3	2.79	7.2	5	46.0%	7	[34]
Western Australia	WA	2,527,013	975,685	1	2,660,026	4	1.03	2.7	7	73.4%	3	[35]
South Australia	SA	984,321	380,048	4	1,781,516	5	1.74	4.5	6	73.5%	2	[36]
Tasmania	TAS	68,401	26,410	7	557,571	6	7.58	19.6	4	41.0%	8	[37]
Australian Capital Territory	ACT	2,358	910	8	453,890	7	167.6	434	1	99.6%	1	[38]
Northern Territory	NT	1,347,791	520,385	3	232,605	8	0.18	0.47	8	54.0%	6	[39]

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The states originated as separate British colonies prior to Federation in 1901. The Colony of New South Wales was founded in 1788 and originally comprised much of the Australian mainland, as well as Lord Howe Island, New Zealand, Norfolk Island, and Van Diemen's Land, in addition to the area currently referred to as the state of New South Wales. During the 19th century, large areas were successively separated to form the Colony of Tasmania (initially established as a separate colony named Van Diemen's Land in 1825), the Colony of Western Australia (initially established as the smaller Swan River Colony in 1829), the Province of South Australia (1836), the Colony of New Zealand (1840),^[41] the Victoria Colony (1851) and the Colony of Queensland (1859). Upon federation, the six colonies of New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia, and Tasmania became the founding states of the new Commonwealth of Australia.

The legislative powers of the states are protected by the Australian constitution, section 107, and under the principle of federalism, Commonwealth legislation only applies to the states where permitted by the constitution. The territories, by contrast, are from a constitutional perspective directly subject to the Commonwealth government; laws for territories are determined by the Australian Parliament.^[42]

Most of the territories are directly administered by the Commonwealth government, while two (the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory) have some degree of self-government although less than that of the states. In the self-governing territories, the Australian Parliament retains the full power to legislate, and can override laws made by the territorial institutions, which it has done on rare occasions. For the purposes of Australian (and joint Australia-New Zealand) intergovernmental bodies, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory are treated as if they were states.

Each state has a governor, appointed by the monarch (currently King Charles III), which by convention he does on the advice of the state premier. The Administrator of the Northern Territory, by contrast, is appointed by the governor-general. The Australian Capital Territory has neither a governor nor an administrator, but the governor-general exercises some powers that in other jurisdictions are exercised by the governor of a state or administrator of a territory, such as the power to dissolve the Legislative Assembly.

Jervis Bay Territory is the only non-self-governing internal territory. Until 1989, it was administered as if it were a part of the ACT, although it has always been a separate territory. Under the terms of the Jervis Bay Territory Acceptance Act 1915,^[43] the laws of the ACT apply to the Jervis Bay Territory insofar as they are applicable and providing they are not inconsistent with an ordinance.^[44] Although residents of the Jervis Bay Territory are generally subject to laws made by the ACT Legislative Assembly, they are not represented in the assembly. They are represented in the Parliament of Australia as part of the Electoral Division of Fenner (named the Division of Fraser until 2016) in the ACT and by the ACT's two senators. In other respects, the territory is administered directly by the Federal Government through the Territories portfolio.^[45]

The external territory of Norfolk Island possessed a degree of self-government from 1979 until 2015.

Each state has a bicameral parliament, except Queensland, which abolished its upper house in 1922. The lower house is called the "legislative assembly", except in South Australia and Tasmania, where it is called the "house of assembly". Tasmania is the only state to use proportional representation for elections to its lower house; all others elect members from single member constituencies, using preferential voting. The upper house is called the "legislative council" and is generally elected from multi-member constituencies using proportional representation. The three self-governing territories, the ACT, the Northern Territory, and Norfolk Island, each have unicameral legislative assemblies.

The head of government of each state is called the "premier", appointed by the state's governor. In normal circumstances, the governor will appoint as premier whoever leads the party or coalition which exercises control of the lower house (in the case of Queensland, the only house) of the state parliament. However, in times of constitutional crisis, the governor can appoint someone else as premier. The head of government of the self-governing internal territories is called the "chief minister". The Northern Territory's chief minister, in normal circumstances whoever controls the legislative assembly, is appointed by the administrator.

The term interstate is used within Australia to refer to a number of events, transactions, registrations, travel, etc. which occurs across borders or outside of the particular state or territory of the user of the term. Examples of use include motor vehicle registration,^[46] travel,^[47] applications to educational institutions out of one's home state.^[48]

There are very few urban areas bifurcated by state or territory borders. The Queensland-New South Wales border runs through Coolangatta (Queensland) and Tweed Heads (New South Wales) and splits Gold Coast Airport. Oaks Estate, a contiguous residential of Queanbeyan, was excised out of New South Wales when the Australian Capital Territory was established in 1909. Some Urban Centres and Localities reported by the Australian Bureau of Statistics include some agglomerations of cities spreading across state borders, including Gold Coast–Tweed Heads, Canberra–Queanbeyan, Albury–Wodonga (New South Wales-Victoria) and Mildura–Wentworth (Victoria-New South Wales)

• Supreme Court of New South Wales
• Supreme Court of Victoria
• Supreme Court of Queensland
• Supreme Court of Western Australia
• Supreme Court of South Australia
• Supreme Court of Tasmania
• Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory
• Supreme Court of the Northern Territory
• Supreme Court of Norfolk Island

• New South Wales Police Force
• Victoria Police
• Queensland Police Service
• Western Australia Police Force
• South Australia Police
• Tasmania Police
• Australian Capital Territory Policing (performed by Australian Federal Police)
• Northern Territory Police Force
• Law enforcement in Norfolk Island, also provided by Australian Federal Police

• Australian regional rivalries
• ISO 3166-2:AU, the ISO codes for the states and territories of Australia
• List of adjectival and demonymic forms of Australian states and territories
• List of Australian states and territories by Human Development Index
• Proposals for new Australian states