Nearly 25 years ago, the Northern Territory narrowly missed out on its “ultimate constitutional objective” of becoming Australia’s seventh state.
A 1998 advert urging people to vote against statehood.(Supplied: Library & Archives NT)
The 1998 statehood referendum was the culmination of years upon years of workshopping and parliamentary reports, and only failed by 4,000 votes.
But ask any Territorian today and they’ll tell you it’s an issue well down their list of priorities.
So how did this happen? And was it ever feasible for a vast landmass so sparsely populated to be able to govern as a state?
With the Territory Rights Bill passing the lower house earlier this month, a former politician bizarrely calling for it to return to South Australia, and concerns about a lack of representation in federal parliament, we answer your questions about whether the Northern Territorycould ever become a state, and what it would change if it did.
How did the statehood movement start?
From Federation until 1911, the Northern Territory was part of South Australia.
After that, it became a territory, controlled directly by the federal government.
However, the statehood movement only really got going after the NT was granted self-government on July 1, 1978.
After the NT was granted self-government in 1978, statehood was quickly embraced by the Everingham government (above).(NT Archives Service)
By 1986, the territory’s third chief minister Stephen Hatton was describing statehood as the “ultimate constitutional objective”.
“The Territory has long been preparing to take its place as an equal partner in the Australian Federation; the time has now arrived for it to do so,” Mr Hatton told parliament.
Mr Hatton argued that statehood would give the territory “the same degree of self-determination” as everyone else.
What makes a territory different from a state?
Unlike states, federal parliament can override laws in both territories.
The NT learned this firsthand in 1996 when its voluntary assisted dying laws – a world-first at the time – were struck down by the Commonwealth.
Residents also have less of a say in referendums. Unlike those in states, their votes are only counted in the national majority, and not also part of the majority of voters in the majority of states.
Another big difference is a lack of federal representation—the NT and ACT only have two senators each, compared to the states’ 12 apiece.
Marshall Perron, the NT’s chief minister from 1988 to 1995, said the jurisdiction’s small population was one of the major obstacles to the territory achieving statehood.
“The states are supposed to have equal representation in the senate, of course,” he said.
“By most people’s opinion, it’s a bit ridiculous for the territory to have 12 senators when it has the population the size of a suburb in Sydney.”
Former NT chief minister Marshall Perron.(ABC News: Rhiannon Shine)
That said, advocates for statehood have suggested the NT could have four senators instead of 12; and the Commonwealth already funds the territory as if it were a state.
So, how could the NT become a state?
Charles Darwin University political expert Rolf Gerritsen said in practical terms, the NT already operated a lot like a state.
But constitutionally it was not, he said, meaning its sovereignty was fragile.
There are two ways the NT could become a state: through a referendum to change its status in the constitution, or for the Commonwealth parliament to pass a bill declaring the territory a state.
Mr Gerritsen said while a referendum would be much harder to get over the line, that was the way to true statehood, as a bill would only establish the NT as a second-class state.
“Parliament can say it’s amending the Northern Territory Act to make it a state. But in 20 years’ time, another Commonwealth Parliament may come along and decide to repeal the act granting us statehood, and return us to territory status. So we [wouldn’t] have sovereignty,” he said.
John Howard and Shane Stone both presided over referenda during their terms, both of which were unsuccessful.(AAP)
What happened at the referendum?
In 1998, the issue was put to the people by a Country Liberal Party (CLP) government led by Shane Stone.
The result was a narrow loss, with 51.9 per cent of respondents voting against compared to 48.1 per cent for.
Mr Perron said the “yes” vote’s failure had set the movement back considerably, and compared the result to the failed 1999 referendum for Australia to become a republic.
“Once it dies, once it got a no vote, it just goes off the agenda completely,” he said.
But he said that he didn’t necessarily spell the end of the movement.
“It hasn’t come back on the agenda in Australia yet, but it will,” he said.
Former prime minister Bob Hawke and his treasurer Paul Keating struck a deal with the Northern Territory to fund it as if it were a state.(National Archives of Australia)
What has driven the push for statehood?
One of the NT’s longest serving politicians, Robyn Lambley, said the territory had viewed itself differently in the ’80s and ’90s, when statehood became a hot topic of discussion.
Enthusiasm for the territory’s future was high in the 1980s and 90s.(Supplied: Library & Archives NT)
“There was a lot of speculation around the Northern Territory being a great frontier, the fact they were on the cusp of a booming economy and a booming population, and that we would grow to a size that would certainly be able to compete with other states ,” she said.
“And that just hasn’t happened.”
“The drive for statehood was originally very exciting and promising and in keeping with where people saw the territory going in the next 10, 20, 30, 40 years, and that hasn’t come to fruition.”
In contrast, there’s been a dramatic decline in enthusiasm for statehood in the decades since.
This was symbolized when the CLP, which had long pursued statehood, seemingly lost interest during its last term in power in 2012-16, with its statehood minister in 2015 unable to articulate whether the CLP still supported the issue.
The portfolio died out altogether not long after that, including under the subsequent Labor government.
Is statehood still a possibility?
For now, the goal of statehood for the NT remains far off.
The popular view is that it is still an aspiration, but one which would take a huge amount of population growth and social and economic development, as well as public education, before it could be realized.
NT historian Peter Forrest, who was present at the official ceremony to celebrate self-government back in 1978, said after almost 50 years, self-government in the NT – let alone statehood – had actually turned to disappointment for some.
“I meet old timers who yearn for a return to the Commonwealth days, which is a real turnaround,” he said.
And bizarrely, the idea of the NT re-unifying with SA – after more than a century of separation – has recently raised its head, with former SA deputy premier Vickie Chapman suggesting it earlier in her farewell speech to parliament.
But for the moment at least, it seems most NT residents are happy with the way things are, with the issue of statehood having little affect on everyday life in the territory.
