The Northern Territory is poised to become a state, Australia's top judge says.
Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia Robert French on Monday told a packed court in Darwin that the NT had the necessary constitutional infrastructure for statehood.
"... Responsible government and a well-established and well-respected judiciary with 100 years of history behind it," he said.
He added, however, there was a qualitative difference between a self-governing territory and state under the constitution.
"The commonwealth still has the power to make laws under section 122 effecting the Territory that it could not make with respect to the states."
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Chief Justice French, who helped establish the Aboriginal legal aid service in Western Australia and was appointed to the High Court in 2008, said the NT was "poised to become a state".
"If it does and when it does and on what terms it does (become a state), will depend a great deal upon the people of the Territory.
"No doubt, there will be debate about the terms of the constitution ... should it include some aspiration statements, should it recognise Aboriginal people and their connection to the lands?"
ROLE IN HISTORY
In a special Kriewaldt address to mark the centenary of the Northern Territory Supreme Court, Chief Justice French said the NT had played a significant part in Australia's constitutional history.
He detailed the NT's very long, slow evolution towards self-government, including its loss of statehood in 1911 when it was separated from South Australia and its fight to gain representation in the Senate which, in part, triggered a double-dissolution for the then Whitlam government.
"I expect that, by the time the next centenary comes around, the Northern Territory will have many years of statehood behind it."
Chief Justice French unveiled a portrait of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the NT Trevor Riley, who was appointed late last year, in the foyer.
Members of the NT's legal fraternity will re-enact parts of the infamous Chamberlain saga as part of the centenary celebrations.
Long-standing NT judge Dean Mildren this week launches his book, entitled Big Boss Fella, All Same Judge, and a group of performing artists will put on a play about the difficulties Aboriginal people face trying to live under two systems of law in Australia.
