Proposals for new Australian states
Since the 19th century, there have been proposals for the creation or incorporation of new states of Australia. Chapter VI of the Constitution of Australia provides for the admission of new states to the federation. Proposals have included admitting territories to statehood, admitting independent countries, and forming new states from parts of existing states. However, no new states have been added since the federation of six former British self-governing colonies in 1901, as states of the new Commonwealth of Australia.
Unofficial proposals have involved current territories, especially the Northern Territory and, to a lesser extent, the Australian Capital Territory. Other long-standing proposals have included negotiating the addition of neighbouring countries, such as New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Fiji and East Timor, and the creation of a state for Indigenous Australians.
Procedure
provides for the establishment or admission of new states to the federation. The Federal Parliament may also form a new state by separating territory from an existing state, join multiple states or parts of states, or increase, diminish, or otherwise alter the limits of a state, but in each case, it must have the approval of the parliament of the state in question. Section 123 provides that alterations to state boundaries also require the consent of the state's voters via referendum.In relation to parliamentary representation, the Joint Select Committee on Electoral Reform in 1985 recommended that territories be entitled to:
- Separate representation from the ACT or NT once they have more than half a quota of population ;
- A floor of two senators for the ACT and NT each; and
- One extra senator for every two lower house members.
- That new states should not have representation any more favourable than Territories as prescribed in the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918.
History
Colonial period
Immediately before federation in 1901, the Australian mainland comprised six separate British self-governing colonies. Throughout the 19th century, the borders of these colonies changed often, there were numerous proposals for new colonies and, in some instances, new colonies were gazetted, but later dissolved and incorporated into other colonies.In 1838, British Army officer James Vetch proposed a major reorganisation of the colonial borders in the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society. These proposed colonies were geometric divisions of the continent, and did not take into account soil fertility, aridity or population. This meant that central and western Australia were divided into several states, despite their low populations both then and now.
For several months in 1846, a Colony of North Australia technically existed, with its capital at Gladstone. The short-lived colony officially included most of the future Queensland and the future Northern Territory. Between the time it was gazetted, in February 1846 and the time it was officially cancelled, that December, the area of the new colony continued to be controlled by the government of New South Wales; at no point did a separate colonial administration of North Australia take control of it.
There was also a proposal in 1857 for the "Seven United Provinces of Eastern Australia" with separate provinces of Flinders Land, Leicharts Land and Cooks Land in modern day Queensland.
20th century
New statism was a major political force in Australia during the interwar period, calling for the creation of multiple new states in New South Wales and Queensland. Its popularity coincided with the emergence of the Country Party as a national party advocating decentralisation and promotion of new states as part of more general reform of Australia's federal structure, rather than as isolated movements for individual new states.In 1924, following lobbying from the Country Party-aligned Progressives led by Michael Bruxner, New South Wales premier George Fuller appointed a royal commission into new states. The New States Royal Commission of Inquiry, led by John Cohen and known as the Cohen Royal Commission, examined proposals for new states in the Monaro, New England and the Riverina. Its report delivered in 1925 concluded that the proposed new states would be not financially feasible and that the benefits of decentralisation could be delivered by the existing state government.
While new states on the mainland were considered non-feasible, there was motivation to expand beyond the original Federation states. Described by Prime Minister Billy Hughes as the "Australian Monroe Doctrine", in the early 1900s early Federation politicians were motivated to expand Australia's presence in the Pacific islands through British transfers and annexations. Motivations for this policy included developing a strategic defensive 'ring' in case of an invasion of the Australian mainland, and to access cheap labour following the outlawing of blackbirding. Australian politicians lobbied the United Kingdom for acquisitions of British New Guinea, Colony of Fiji and British Solomon Islands, the French Tahiti, New Hebrides, and New Caledonia, and the German Marshall Islands. British New Guinea was transferred to Australia in 1902, becoming the Territory of Papua.
Following the acquisition of Papua, Australia acquired or claimed authority over Norfolk Island, Nauru, Ashmore and Cartier Islands, Heard Island and McDonald Islands, New Guinea, Cocos Islands, Christmas Island, Coral Sea Islands, and Antarctica. However, none of these managed territories ultimately developed into states.
21st century
Since 2000, proposals for reorganisation have continued to be put forward. For instance, in 2003, Bryan Pape suggested a reorganisation into about twenty states, each with Senate representation.Republicanism, changing mineral wealth and tax distribution have been seen as reasons to revisit federation. Proposals include redivision between the local, state and federal levels of government, either consolidation or fragmentation. It has been argued that new technologies in service delivery are enablers of greater decentralisation or are a reason for greater efficiency in centralisation.
Proposals from existing states and territories
Aboriginal state
There are also supporters of an Aboriginal state, along the lines of Nunavut in Canada. The Aboriginal Provisional Government was established in 1990 for the purpose; Paul Coe sued the Commonwealth for Aboriginal sovereignty and see Kevin Gilbert 'Treaty 88'. All advocated for an Aboriginal state. Agence France Presse claims Australia blocked a United Nations resolution calling for the self-determination of peoples, because it would have bolstered support for an Aboriginal state within Australia. Among those supporting such a state are the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation.Auralia
Proposed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the state of Auralia would have comprised the Western Australian Goldfields, the western portion of the Nullarbor Plain and the port town of Esperance. Its capital would have been Kalgoorlie.However, the population in the modern region of Goldfields-Esperance is currently lower than that of the Northern Territory, and there is little evidence of recent support, although the idea of a state centred around Kalgoorlie was proposed in 2003.
Eyre Peninsula
In 1930, Robert Bedford and other wheatgrowers proposed that the Eyre Peninsula become a separate state from South Australia. A conference held in Kyancutta discussed the proposal, at which Bedford condemned Eyre Peninsula's "crushing disability of Absentee Centralism in Adelaide as well as Canberra". A proposed name for the new state was "Eyralia".New England
The New England New State Movement was an Australian political movement in the twentieth century. Founded as the Northern Separation Movement, the aim of the movement was to seek the secession of the New England region and surrounding areas from the State of New South Wales and the establishment of a new State of New England. While popular at first and the subject of two Royal Commissions, the movement was unsuccessful, and was defeated at a referendum in 1967.North Queensland
One proposal is that Queensland should be divided by the 22nd parallel with the boundary running just south of Sarina on the coast to the Northern Territory border between Boulia and Mount Isa, and the capital would be Sellheim, near Charters Towers, to overcome rivalry between Mackay, Townsville and Cairns. The name Capricornia has been proposed for this state.According to The Courier-Mail in 2010, the majority of North Queensland Mayors were in favour of the separation from Queensland proper. Only two of the hundred delegates at the NQ Local Government Association meeting were against the proposal – the two being Mayor Val Schier and Mayor Ben Callcott.
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory is the most commonly mentioned potential seventh state.In a 1998 referendum, the voters of the Northern Territory narrowly rejected a statehood proposal that would have given the territory three senators, rather than the twelve held by the other states, although the name "Northern Territory" would have been retained.
With statehood being rejected, it is likely that the Northern Territory will remain a territory for the near future, though former Chief Minister Clare Martin and the majority of Territorians are said to be in favour of statehood.
While statehood would, under the conditions the original six states federated, give the Northern Territory 12 senators, its population as of 2021 is only 3% of the largest state, New South Wales. This means that whilst one NSW senator represents 682,000 people, one NT senator would represent approximately 21,000 people. By comparison, one Tasmanian senator represents 45,000 people, while one South Australian senator represents 148,000 people. If the NT were only given 3 senators as proposed in the 1998 referendum, each would represent around 63,000 people.
An alternative name for the new state would be North Australia, which would be shared by two historic regions. The matter was raised again in July 2015, with a further referendum in 2018 being mooted.