The

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory shares its borders with Western Aust ...

(NT) is the most commonly mentioned potential seventh state of Australia. The most common proposed name for the state is Northern Australia (to match with other states such as

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

and

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

). In a 1998 referendum, the voters of the Northern Territory 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. Alongside what was cited as an "arrogant" approach adopted by then Chief Minister

Shane Stone Shane Leslie Stone (born 25 September 1950) is an Australian political figure. He is currently the Chair of the Council for the Order of Australia. He was also the Coordinator-General of the National Recovery and Resilience Agency and its pre ...

, it is believed that most ''territorians'', regardless of their general views on statehood, were reluctant to adopt the particular model that was being voted on. In July 2015, members of the

Council of Australian Governments The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) was the primary intergovernmental forum in Australia from 1992 to 2020. Comprising the federal government, the governments of the six states and two mainland territories and the Australian Local G ...

unanimously agreed with then Northern Territory Chief Minister

Adam Giles Adam Graham Giles (born 10 April 1973) is an Australian former politician and former Chief Minister of the Northern Territory (2013–2016) as well as the former leader of the Country Liberal Party (CLP) in the unicameral Northern Territory P ...

that the territory should become its own state by 2018. This never happened. It has been suggested that statehood for the Northern Territory may lead to a change in the

Australian flag The flag of Australia, also known as the Australian Blue Ensign, is based on the British Blue Ensign—a blue field with the Union Jack in the upper hoist quarter—augmented with a large white seven-pointed star (the Commonwealth Star) and a r ...

. The design elements of the Australian flag have been changed seven times since it was first flown on 3 September 1901. However, in 1908 a seventh point was added to the Commonwealth Star to represent the Australian territories—originally this star had six points, one for each of the former colonies. Should the Northern Territory become a state then consideration may be given to adding another point to the Commonwealth Star. However at the time of the 1998 referendum the Australian government stated that the flag would not change even if territorians voted for statehood. File:Northern Australia Flag.svg, Ian Johnston's proposed flag for a "Northern Australia" state

References

{{reflist Proposed states and territories of Australia Northern Territory Government

See also

References