Northern Territory statehood: the elevation of second-class citizens or a waste of time?
Chief Minister Adam Giles plonked the issue squarely on the national agenda on Thursday when he raised it at the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting.
It received the support of other leaders, and July 1, 2018 has been flagged as the date on which to elevate the NT from "a second-class citizen with second-tier status in the nation".
A month ago, Mr Giles had said "statehood in the Territory isn't a big issue in people's minds" and that he "didn't want to run forward on an issue I haven't been talking to the Territory about".
Statehood discussions surge forward every few years in the NT and then subside before a general mood of ambivalence.
Half the NT is Aboriginal land, and indigenous people fear they will be at a disadvantage if key pieces of legislation such as the Land Rights Act are given to the Territory to administer.
This concern was a driving force behind the rejection of a 1998 referendum on the matter.
Land councils have mounted a strong "No" campaign, and Northern Land Council chief executive Joe Morrison says the three-year timeline is too ambitious.
"The CLP have a long-standing history, since self-government, of wanting to unwind the Aboriginal Land Rights Act," he told AAP.
"We've seen leaked drafts of their submissions to the Northern Australia white paper about compulsory acquisition of (Aboriginal) lands and freeing NT lands and processes up to attract investors to the NT, and we all know that's nonsense.
"I don't think any Territorian wants to give away their property rights and their capacity to give consent to northern development on their own terms to the kinds of administrations we've had in the NT over the last 30-odd years."
Political commentator Rolf Gerritsen said the conversation was a waste of time.
"It will never happen," he said.
Other states might oppose the NT gaining a full complement of parliamentarians, with five in the House of Representatives and 12 senators, compared with two each at present, Mr Gerritsen said.
NT Labor Opposition Leader Michael Gunner said the reasons behind the 1998 rejection of statehood needed to be understood.
"I have never accepted - and will never - that because I was born in the Territory and choose to live in the Territory I should have fewer rights than other Australians," he said.
Mr Gunner said it appeared the government had not learnt any lessons from the last "No" vote.
"You have to have this driven by the community, not dictated to from above," he said.
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