Australia's states and territories — and why the differences matter

The oldest and most populous state, established as a penal colony at Sydney Cove in 1788 and now home to about 8.5 million people. Sydney generates a disproportionate share of national economic activity, particularly in finance, professional services and technology, and it has the country's most expensive housing by a substantial margin.

Beyond Sydney, New South Wales contains the Hunter Valley coal and wine region, the Blue Mountains, the Snowy Mountains and Australia's only alpine skiing worth the name, and a long chain of coastal towns running north to Byron Bay.

Practical distinctives: rental bonds are held by NSW Fair Trading through Rental Bonds Online; the tribunal for tenancy, consumer and small civil disputes is NCAT; and compulsory third party insurance ('green slip') is bought separately from a private insurer before registration.

The smallest mainland state by area but second by population, with about 7.0 million people, most of them in Melbourne. Victoria has the highest population density of any state and the most compact geography, which makes it the one place in Australia where regional rail actually works reasonably well.

Melbourne is the cultural and sporting capital by most measures — the Australian Open, the Melbourne Cup, the Grand Prix and the AFL Grand Final all sit here. The state also holds the Great Ocean Road, the Grampians and some of the country's best-known wine regions.

Practical distinctives: bonds are lodged with the Residential Tenancies Bond Authority; the tribunal is VCAT; Victoria charges a separate Fire Services Property Levy on rates; and the state has the most developed public electric-vehicle and tram infrastructure in the country.

About 5.6 million people spread across the most decentralised state in Australia — less than half live in Brisbane, compared with roughly two-thirds of Victorians living in Melbourne. Townsville, Cairns, Toowoomba, Rockhampton and the Gold and Sunshine Coasts are all substantial cities in their own right.

Queensland holds the Great Barrier Reef, the Daintree, Fraser Island (K'gari) and the Whitsundays, and its economy leans on coal, gas, agriculture and tourism. The northern half is tropical, with a wet season from roughly November to April and a genuine cyclone risk.

Practical distinctives: bonds go to the Residential Tenancies Authority; the tribunal is QCAT; Queensland does not observe daylight saving, which puts it an hour behind NSW and Victoria for five months of the year; and it runs the 13 HEALTH line rather than healthdirect.

One state covering about a third of the continent — 2.53 million square kilometres — with only 2.9 million people, nearly 80 per cent of them in Perth. It is the most geographically isolated substantial city in the world, closer to Jakarta than to Sydney.

The economy is dominated by iron ore, gas, gold and lithium extracted from the Pilbara, the Goldfields and the north-west shelf. This gives Western Australia the highest state product per person in the country and a labour market that runs on fly-in, fly-out rosters.

Practical distinctives: bonds go to the Bond Administrator at Consumer Protection; the tribunal is SAT; Western Australia is on AWST (+8:00) year round with no daylight saving, meaning a three-hour gap with the east coast in summer; and interstate quarantine rules on fruit and plants are genuinely enforced.

About 1.9 million people, three-quarters in Adelaide. South Australia was the only Australian colony settled entirely by free immigrants rather than convicts, a fact its residents will mention, and it has a long record of social and electoral firsts — including being among the first places in the world where women could both vote and stand for parliament.

It is the driest state in the driest inhabited continent, and its economy runs on wine — the Barossa, Clare, McLaren Vale and Coonawarra — along with grain, defence shipbuilding and a renewable electricity grid that regularly runs on wind and solar alone for extended periods.

Practical distinctives: bonds go to Consumer and Business Services; the tribunal is SACAT; ACST is a half-hour offset from the eastern states; and South Australia has the country's longest-running container deposit scheme.

An island state of about 575,000 people separated from the mainland by Bass Strait, with a cool temperate climate closer to New Zealand's than to Queensland's. Roughly 42 per cent of the island is in reserves, national parks or World Heritage area — the highest protected share of any Australian jurisdiction.

Hobart and Launceston anchor an economy built on agriculture, aquaculture, forestry, hydro-electricity and, increasingly, tourism and food and drink. Tasmania is the only state where hydro provides the bulk of generation.

Practical distinctives: bonds go to the Rental Deposit Authority; disputes go to the Residential Tenancy Commissioner and then the magistrates court rather than a single super-tribunal; and travel with a vehicle means the Spirit of Tasmania ferry or an interstate flight.

A territory of about 475,000 people created out of New South Wales to host the federal capital, with Canberra as effectively its only city. It has the highest median income and the highest concentration of degree-holders of any jurisdiction, both consequences of a public-service economy.

The ACT is unusual constitutionally: it has a single legislative assembly that performs both state and local government functions, so there are no separate councils and no rates notice from a third tier.

Practical distinctives: the ACT abolished stamp duty on most residential leases and has been phasing out conveyance duty in favour of higher general rates over a twenty-year transition; tenancy law is among the most tenant-favourable in the country; and the tribunal is ACAT.

The smallest jurisdiction by population at about 255,000 people, spread over 1.35 million square kilometres. Around 30 per cent of the population is Aboriginal — by far the highest share in the country — and Aboriginal land councils hold inalienable freehold title over roughly half the Territory's land under the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976.

Darwin has a monsoonal wet and dry climate with no meaningful winter, while Alice Springs in the centre is desert with cold nights. Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa and Kakadu are both here, both jointly managed with Traditional Owners.

Practical distinctives: bonds are held by the landlord or agent rather than a central authority, which is unusual and worth knowing; the tribunal is NTCAT; the Territory keeps ACST year-round; and remote-area rules on alcohol, permits and vehicle access are strictly enforced.

The list below is the practical version. Almost everything on it is a state responsibility, which is why national generalisations about these subjects are usually wrong somewhere.

Note that some things do not change: your tax file number, your Medicare card, your Centrelink payments, your superannuation, your passport, the Australian Consumer Law and your visa conditions are all federal and travel with you.