The
2023 Northern Territory statehood referendum was a public poll held in Northern Territory, Australia, regarding whether or not the territory should become the 8th state of the Commonwealth of Australia. It was the second such referendum to be held, after a narrowly failed vote in October 1996. "Yes" won by nearly a hundred thousand votes and over a twenty point margin over "No;" as a result, the Northern Territory will join Australia as a full state, to be named "Northern Australia," on January 1, 2024.
Statehood had long been thought of as being favorable to Northern Territory, which has both Australia's largest Aboriginal population, is home to its vast uranium reserves which form an increasingly important component of Australia's export-driven economy and mining sector, and has as its capital the city of Darwin, which is the fastest-growing city in Australia and an increasingly critical gateway to the East Indies and Asia. However, its sparse population - only 478,145 at the 2021 Australian census - meant that full statehood would yield a situation where Northern Australia having 12 Senators would mean it would have as much voting influence as populous states such as New South Wales and Victoria with only a fraction of the total population. The 1996 referendum, approved by a Country Liberal government in Northern Territory and by the right-wing National Party government of Prime Minister Paul Hogan in St. George, would have granted the proposed new state three Senators and five Members of Parliament, and was thus opposed by all three major opposition parties - Australian Labor (ALP), Liberal, and Greens. This opposition campaign, in traditionally swingy Northern Territory, helped narrowly defeat the statehood proposal, in part by making it a proxy for public dissatisfaction with the Hogan government's intervention in the Bornean Conflict earlier in the year and the refugee crisis in the Timor Sea that fell disproportionately on the Northern Territory.
However, subsequent efforts to hold further referenda were stymied by a lack of interest in immediately revisiting the issue during the federal Labor government of 2001-08, and territorial Labor governments did not press the issue either, often unable to muster a full majority of the party to support statehood. The return of the Nationals to power in both St. George and Darwin in 2012 brought a new tension, however, as despite Chief Minister Terry Mills' support of statehood and holding a referendum as early as 2014 for "full and proper statehood," he was blocked by the federal government of Prime Minister Bob Katter, who opposed Northern Australian statehood unless Northern Queensland was also granted statehood simultaneously, a positioned vehemently opposed by the opposition. The election of Labor governments both federally and territorially in 2020, and statehood for Northern Territory being a manifesto position for the government of Jim Chalmers, set up a vote, promised by Chalmers to be held no later than September 1, 2023. The referendum was, eventually, set for 28 August 2023, as a constitutional revision in which Northern Australia would join the Commonwealth as a full state with full political rights, including the customary 12 Senators and 5 MPs to which it is entitled as a state.
In a reversal from 1996, Labor strongly supported statehood in the referendum while National opposed; the Liberals and Greens in early August decided, after a vote by members, to support "Yes." Arguments on the "Yes" side revolved largely around fairness, principles of self-governance and ending the "second-class" status of Northern Territorials; "No" argued that it was a ploy by Labor to expand their representation in both Houses of Parliament via Labor-supporting (at the federal level, at least) Northern Territory, and some arguments also leaned on the Territory's heavily Aboriginal and immigrant populations as a reason to vote against. The decisive victory was largely viewed as a major victory for the Chalmers government in its fourth year ahead of elections due in spring of 2024 and raised questions within National about the wisdom of opposing statehood for a region that up to the early 2000s had generally supported the party, particularly in the Darwin/Palmerston area.
