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Australian State and Territory Governments

Each State and Territory Government has the same three arm system as the Commonwealth Government. State and Territory Governments are responsible for governing areas not administered by the Federal Government.

There are six states in Australia: New South Wales (NSW), Queensland (Qld), South Australia (SA), Tasmania (Tas), Victoria (Vic) and Western Australia (WA), and two territories, the Northern Territory (NT) and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT).

State and Territory governments are responsible for:

• Police;
• Hospitals;
• Education; and
• Public Transport.

Depending on where you live in Australia there will be slight differences in the way education curriculum is applied, for example, as each state and territory is able to self-govern these aspects.

All State and Territory Parliaments except Queensland are bicameral, with two Houses of Parliament.

Local Government

There are approximately 900 local government bodies at the city, town, municipal and shire level in Australia.

Local governments are the responsibility of the State or Territory Government their jurisdiction lies in, and hence their powers are derived from legislation enacted by these overruling bodies.

In general, local governments are responsible for town planning, construction and maintenance of local roads, streets and bridges, water, sewerage and drainage systems, public health and sanitary services, supervision of building, administration of slaughtering, weights and measures and other regulations, and the development and maintenance of parks, recreation grounds, swimming pools, public libraries and community centres.

These roles are financed by the Australian Federal and State Governments, or from rates collected from the community.