Unlike a state, territories do not have legislations to create laws for themselves, so they rely on the federal government to create and approve the laws.
Territories are not claimed by any state so the Australian Parliament directly controls them. Your email address will not be published. Skip to content Blog. April 11, Trish Hannan. Differences between states and territories The main difference lies between the governing powers of the states and territories, and this division was made to help with administration.
What are territories? Leave a Reply Cancel reply Your email address will not be published. In s, Afghan cameleers brought their "ships of the desert" to the Australian outback. More than a century later, feral camel populations peaked at about one million. By , populations were nearly halved in a controversial cull. A deadly cane toad has also caused chaos after it was introduced from South America in in a bid to kill a native beetle that was damaging sugar cane crops. With no local predators, cane toad numbers have grown rapidly, spreading to Western Australia and down the east coast, in recent years.
Venom secreted by glands in their back can quickly kill native animals that try to feed on them. In a little known chapter in Australia's military history, Australia came under foreign attack for the first time, in World War Two, when Japanese forces launched air raids on the city of Darwin and other targets in the Territory. In the largest Japanese attack after Pearl Harbor, Japanese planes were launched against the northern capital and its harbour full of Allied ships.
Darwin was also the site of one of Australia's worst natural disasters, devastated on Christmas Eve by Cyclone Tracy. Most of the population was evacuated to other Australian cities and many residents never returned to Darwin.
The NT has its share of crime and is home to two of Australia's biggest mysteries: the death of baby Azaria Chamberlain in , and the disappearance of English tourist Peter Falconio in Australians Lindy and Michael Chamberlain were camping at Uluru when their baby girl Azaria disappeared from the family's tent. Her body was never found but her parents told police a dingo took the child.
In , Lindy was found guilty of murdering Azaria and her husband was found guilty of being an accessory after the fact. In what became one of Australia's most sensational court cases, much of the police evidence was controversial and the nation was divided over the couple's guilt. Lindy was released in after new evidence came to light and finally, in , a coroner ruled Azaria had been taken by a dingo.
Backpacker Peter Falconio's body was never found either but his girlfriend Joanne Lees said the couple were attacked by Bradley John Murdoch - mechanic and admitted drug runner. He had flagged down their campervan while they were travelling on an outback highway in the dead of night, a court later heard. Lees escaped, later telling police she heard Murdoch shoot her boyfriend. Murdoch was arrested following one of Australia's largest manhunts, and eventually found guilty of Falconio's murder.
Is Australia laid back or uptight? This played out most prominently when the NT passed the first Australian law to legalise medically assisted euthanasia in , which was nullified in by the Commonwealth.
The harshness of the Territory's climate and its remoteness for many years hindered its path to self-governance; see: the three attempts to colonise northern Australia post-European settlement, which ended with starvation, illness, and failure.
Land was formally annexed from what had previously been a nameless part of NSW as the Northern Territory of South Australia, and it was ensured that NT citizens had the same right to political representation as South Australians. Land sales commenced on March 1, , and investors from London and Adelaide swooped in, buying up hundreds of lots of land. It was supposed to be the opportunity of a lifetime, but just one-tenth of the land sold had actually been surveyed.
Investors turned tail; the expedition was recalled at the end of , and disgruntled buyers sued the SA government for fraudulently inducing them into buying land, Mr Parish said.
Despite various government initiatives to develop the region, at the turn of the century the population stood at just 3, Aboriginal Australians were not included in the survey , and the state was incurring further financial losses. In acquiring the Territory, the Commonwealth assumed not only ownership of all its assets but also its obligations and financial liabilities, which eased the financial burden on policy makers, but also stripped Territorians of their political representation.
It was a decision that would spur almost a decade of civil unrest. At its core were sentiments some would argue still exist today: Territorians were increasingly unhappy with unrepresentative government from southern Australia. Northern dissatisfaction over failed economic pursuits, funding diversions, the White Australia policy and wage disputes gave way to a groundswell of support for the union movement. But after Administrator Gilruth refused to let a group of Darwin barmaids have time off to celebrate the end of World War I, the tinder box exploded: shortly afterwards during the Darwin Rebellion more than 1, men, carrying an effigy of Dr Gilruth tied to a stake, walked to Government House demanding "no taxation without representation".
As the civilian population returned to Darwin at the end of World War II, the proposition of self-governance gained momentum. But it was not until that the NT Legislative Council was formed. The member council consisted of six elected members and seven nominated by the federal government, but that included the Administrator of the NT, who held both deliberative and casting votes, and while the council "could make ordinances for the peace, order and good government of the Territory," it could still be vetoed by the Commonwealth, and had no authority over finances.
In , the Legislative Council argued that the Territory's federal MP should be given full voting rights and that the NT should be represented in the Senate, but the Commonwealth refused. But by , the Legislative Council was re-created as the Legislative Assembly comprising of 19 elected members; similarly to a state, it had the power to legislate over areas of health, education, land, mining, and local government, but the Governor-General retained overriding power.
Finally on July 1, , after more than half a century of lobbying, the NT achieved self-governance. However, today, on the eve of self-government's 40th anniversary, some question whether the decision did in fact "prosper" its people, as the Commonwealth retains the right to veto NT legislation. So we don't have the full measure of state powers," Mr Parish said. Despite successive statehood working groups, a failed referendum in , and periodic pushes for equal recognition, none have come to fruition.
I think we need to do some pretty radical rethinking on the nature of the NT as a jurisdiction.
0コメント