Formation of new States.
124. A new State may be formed475 by separation of territory from a State, but only with the consent of the Parliament thereof, and a new State may be formed by the union of two or more States or parts of States, but only with the consent of the Parliaments of the States affected.
UNITED STATES.—But no new State shall be formed or erected within the jurisdiction of any other State, nor any State be formed by the junction of two or more States, or parts of States, without the consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned, as well as of the Congress.—Const., Art. IV., sec. 3, sub-s. 1.HISTORICAL NOTE.—Clause 5, Chap. VI., of the Commonwealth Bill of 1891 was as follows:—
“A new State shall not be formed by separation of territory from a State without the consent of the Parliament thereof, nor shall a State be formed by the union of two or more States or parts of States, or the limits of a State be altered, without the consent of the Parliament or Parliaments of the State or States affected.”
At the Adelaide session, this clause was adopted verbatim.
At the Melbourne session, Mr. Walker suggested that to meet the case of Northern and Central Queensland, the power which the Queen then had to subdivide that colony should be reserved (see Imperial Acts 5 and 6 Vic. c. 76, sec. 51; 13 and 14 Vic c. 59, sec. 32; 18 and 19 Vic. c. 54, sec. 7; 24 and 25 Vic. c. 44, sec. 2). (Melb. Conv. Deb., pp. 669–70.) At a later stage, Mr. Walker moved the insertion of the following new clause:—
“If the colony of Queensland adopts this Constitution, or is admitted as a State of the Commonwealth, nothing in this Constitution shall be taken to impair any right which the Queen may be graciously pleased to exercise by virtue of Her Majesty's royal Prerogative, or under any statute, in respect of the division of Queensland into two or more colonies; but so that the Commonwealth shall retain the powers conferred on it by this Constitution to impose terms and conditions in respect of the establishment of any such colony as a State.”
It was feared, however, that in the eyes of a large section of the inhabitants of Queensland this clause would be unwelcome, and at Mr. Barton's suggestion Mr. Walker withdrew the clause in order that the Queensland Government might be consulted. This was done, with the result that the Premier of Queensland telegraphed to the effect that the proposed clause would be likely to injure the prospects of Federation in Queensland; though the Presidents of the Northern and Central Separation Leagues telegraphed their support. The proposed new clause was negatived. (Conv. Deb., Melb., pp. 1690–1702, 2398–2400.) The clause was recast before the first report, and a verbal alteration was made after the fourth report.