Australian Politics and Policy - Senior, 2019a

Northern Territory
The Self-Government Act and ALRA are products of the Australian parliament
over which the NT has no control.
Federal representation
Section 122 of the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act 1900 (UK) provides
theNTwithtwosenatorsandtwomembersoftheHouseofRepresentatives.This
has been the case since 1975; however, ‘the legislation to enable this representation
was the subject of great rancour, only passing the Commonwealth parliament
following affirmation at a joint sitting of the two houses and subsequently surviving
two High Court challenges’. 30
The rancour, Michael Sloane says in his paper on representation of the
territories in the Senate, was caused by the potential ‘Constitutional imbalance’ it
would unleash on the Senate. He points out that the Constitution preserves the
rights of ‘original States’ and stipulates that changes to Senate representation, which
in turn affect House of Representatives numbers, must ‘maintain parity in the
representation of the original states’.
Statehood
The issue of whether the NT should be admitted as the seventh state of the
Australian federation has been contentious for a variety of reasons, including the
relatively small population, negotiations with the federal government on terms and
conditions of admission 31 under section 106 of the Constitution 32 and internal
wrangling within the NT about whether statehood is a priority, the mechanics of
how to proceed and, at a very local level, whether residents will lose open speed
limits and their annual cracker night – two issues that were identified in NTwide
surveys undertaken by the Statehood Steering Committee. The latter concerns
resulted in a dedicated fact sheet 33 explaining that these matters are not subject to
Commonwealth laws and are the responsibility of the NT government. 34
The Legislative Assembly appointed a Select Committee on Constitutional
Development in 1985, which was superseded by a Standing Committee on Legal
and Constitutional Affairs. Following the overturning of ROTI in 1997, the impetus
for statehood was invigorated.
A constitutional convention was held in 1998, but Aboriginal people and some
trade union representatives walked out in protest. Aboriginal people held their own
30 Sloane n.d.
31 Including Senate representation (see also federal representation).
32 Horne 2008.
33 Northern Territory Statehood Steering Committee 2005.
34 Itisthecase,however,thattheCommonwealthgovernmentmadeabolitionofopenspeed
limits a condition of federal funding. The NT complied.
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