Strictly speaking, the appointment of an administrator is made by the governor-general in Council, that is, the governor-general acting on the advice of the Australian government, rather than the advice of the government of the Northern Territory.[4] However, ministers have described the process as being based on "advice from the Australian and Northern Territory governments".[5]
Unlike an Australian state governor, the administrator is not the direct representative of the King in the Territory but is instead appointed by the King's representative in Australia, the governor-general, to administer the Territory in accordance with the Act. In practice, however, the administrator performs a similar constitutional role to that of a state governor.
The administrator formally appoints the chief minister of the Northern Territory and the members of the Cabinet after every election. In all but a few cases, they are required by convention to act on the Cabinet's advice. The Administrator gives royal assent to all bills passed by the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly. Although the Governor-General (in practice, the Commonwealth Government) has the power to veto any territorial bill, in practice this right is almost never exercised.
The office of the deputy of the administrator was created in 1997.
In 2014, the governor-general granted current, future and living former administrators the title of The Honourable for life,[6] following the lead of Governors-General and Governors of New South Wales in granting the title.[citation needed]
The crest of Administrator of the Northern Territory which is similar to the one used by the Governor-General of Australia except that the flower below the Crown is the Sturt Desert Rose, the floral emblem of the Northern Territory.
South Australia (1863 to 1912)
On 6 July 1863, land now known as the Northern Territory was annexed to the Colony of South Australia. Legislation regulating the sale of land in the Northern Territory which was given assent on 12 November 1863 included provision for both the appointment of a Government Resident and a description of the powers of this office.[7]
^The term The Crown is ambiguous. Relevantly here, the Crown may refer to the body politic, or the sovereign and the capacity in which they act. In the first sense, the Northern Territory was established "as a body politic under the Crown".[2] In the second sense however, there is no legally distinct "Crown in right of the Northern Territory" from the federal Crown of Australia as the administrator's authority (as advised by Territory ministers) is derived from the Self Government Act (an act of the Commonwealth Parliament). This differs from the state governors, who represent directly the authority of the Crown, whose powers may be exercised according to the Australian Constitution. Academic Anne Twomey, in discussing the ambiguity notes that in Australia "the number of Crowns, in the sense of executive governments, may be different from the number of Crowns, in the sense of bodies politic, which in turn may be different from the number of Crowns the monarch might bear with respect to Australia."[3]
^"The Northern Territory Act 1863 No. 23"(PDF). Government of South Australia. 12 November 1863. pp. 275 and 278–279. Retrieved 18 May 2019. appoint an officer to be resident in the said territory, to be called the Government Resident, and all other necessary and proper officers for securing the order. and good government of the said territory
^Ayers, Henry (10 March 1864). "Untitled announcement of the appointment of the Government Resident of the Northern Territory"(PDF). The South Australian Government Gazette. Government of South Australia. p. 184. Retrieved 18 May 2019. His Excellency has this day been pleased to appoint Boyle Travers Finniss, Esq., to be Government Resident in and for the New Territory recently annexed to this Province by Her Majesty's Royal Letters Patent, bearing date July 6th, 1863
^Ling, Ted. "Dividing the Territory, 1926–31". Commonwealth Government Records about the Northern Territory. National Archives of Australia. Retrieved 28 September 2018.