 Australia has six states — New South Wales ( NSW ) , Queensland ( QLD ) , South Australia ( SA ) , Tasmania ( TAS ) , Victoria ( VIC ) and Western Australia ( WA ) — and two major mainland territories — the Australian Capital Territory ( ACT ) and the Northern Territory ( NT ) . In most respects these two territories function as states , but the Commonwealth Parliament can override any legislation of their parliaments . By contrast , federal legislation overrides state legislation only in areas that are set out in Section 51 of the Australian Constitution ; state parliaments retain all residual legislative powers , including those over schools , state police , the state judiciary , roads , public transport and local government , since these do not fall under the provisions listed in Section 51 . 
