{"id":"C1973A00009","name":"Northern Territory (Administration) Act 1973","slug":"northern-territory-administration-act-1973","collection":"act","jurisdiction":"commonwealth","status":"repealed","isInForce":false,"actNumber":"9 of 1973","makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":2526,"registerId":"commonwealth-C1973A00009-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-03-29","status":"Repealed","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Northern Territory (Administration) Act 1973","content":"Northern Territory (Administration) Act 1973\n\nNo. 9 of 1973\n\nAN ACT\n\nTo amend the Northern Territory (Administration) Act 1910-1972 so as to lower to Eighteen Years the Age Qualification for a Candidate for election as a member of the Legislative Council for the Northern Territory of Australia, and to make certain Formal Amendments of that Act.\n\n\\[Assented to 16 March 1973\\]\n\nBE IT ENACTED by the Queen, the Senate and the House of Representatives of Australia, as follows:—\n\nShort title and citation.\n\n1. (1) This Act may be cited as the Northern Territory (Administration) Act 1973.\n\n(2) The Northern Territory (Administration) Act 1910-1972 is referred to in this Act as the Principal Act.\n\n(3) The Principal Act, as amended by this Act, may be cited as the Northern Territory (Administration) Act 1910-1973.\n\n  \n\nCommencement.\n\n2. This Act shall come into operation on a date to be fixed by Proclamation.\n\nQualifications for election.\n\n3. Section 4k of the Principal Act is amended by omitting from paragraph (b) the words “twenty-one years” and substituting the words “eighteen years”.\n\nFormal amendments.\n\n4. The Principal Act is amended as set out in the Schedule.\n\nSCHEDULE Section 4\n\nFORMAL AMENDMENTS\n\n1. The following provisions of the Principal Act are amended by omitting any cardinal number that is expressed in words and substituting the corresponding number expressed in figures:—\n\nSections 3(1) (definition of “Acting Administrator”), 4ca(1), 4sa, 5, 6(1), 8, 17(3), 17a(b) and 21(2).\n\n2. The following provisions of the Principal Act are amended by omitting the words “of this Act”, “to this Act” and “of this section” (wherever occurring):—\n\nSections 3(1) (definition of “Acting Administrator”), 3b(4), 3d (1), 4 (3), 4ca(1), 4ka(3)(a), 4pa (3), 4pb(3), 4sa, 4x(4), 4zc and 21(3)(d).\n\n3. Section 21 of the Principal Act is amended by omitting from paragraph (b) of sub-section (9) the words “the second day of September, One thousand nine hundred and fifty-three,” and substituting the words and figures “2nd September, 1953,”.","sortOrder":0}],"analysis":{"summary":{"complexity_score":1,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"This Act stays entirely within the original scope of the Northern Territory (Administration) Act 1910. It makes a single, targeted amendment to one eligibility criterion (candidate age) and a set of purely cosmetic formatting corrections. There is no expansion of subject matter, regulatory reach, or purpose beyond what the original Act already covered."},"complexity_factors":["Only one substantive legal change (lowering an age threshold from 21 to 18)","Remaining provisions are purely formal/cosmetic amendments with no substantive legal effect","No defined terms introduced","No conditional logic or nested exceptions","No cross-references to other Acts beyond the single Principal Act being amended","Schedule contains only simple word-substitution instructions","Entire Act is fewer than 30 lines of operative text"],"plain_english_summary":"The Act lowers the minimum age to stand for election to the Northern Territory Legislative Council from 21 to 18, enabling 18–20‑year‑olds to be candidates. It also makes minor editorial fixes (numerals for numbers, removal of redundant phrases, a date formatting cleanup). The change is a small but symbolic democratic reform aligning candidacy age with broader civic‑age shifts."},"issue_detection":{"absurdities":[{"type":"impossible_compliance","section":"Section 2","severity":"medium","reasoning":"Section 2 provides that the Act 'shall come into operation on a date to be fixed by Proclamation.' This means the entire operative content of the Act — including the lowering of the candidacy age from 21 to 18 — is suspended indefinitely until the Executive acts. If no Proclamation is ever made, the Act sits on the statute books in perpetual limbo: technically law, but never in force. While proclamation-based commencement clauses are common, they create a structural absurdity where Parliament's clearly expressed democratic intent (expanding candidacy rights) can be indefinitely frustrated by executive inaction.","confidence":0.75,"description":"The Act's commencement is contingent on a Proclamation that may never be made, meaning the age-of-candidacy reform it contains could theoretically never take effect despite having received Royal Assent."},{"type":"self_contradicting","section":"Schedule, Item 1","severity":"low","reasoning":"Item 1 of the Schedule establishes a clear rule: cardinal numbers in words → numbers in figures. Item 3 then handles a date in Section 21(9)(b) by converting the fully worded date to '2nd September, 1953,' — using an ordinal ('2nd') rather than a cardinal figure, and retaining the word 'September'. If the Item 1 rule were applied strictly and consistently to the same date, it would produce something like '2 September, 1953' or '2/9/1953'. Item 3 therefore applies a different, bespoke standard to that date, creating internal inconsistency in the Schedule's own drafting methodology.","confidence":0.65,"description":"The Schedule directs that cardinal numbers expressed in words be replaced with figures, yet Item 3 of the very same Schedule performs exactly the opposite operation in part — replacing the fully worded date 'the second day of September, One thousand nine hundred and fifty-three' with the mixed words-and-figures form '2nd September, 1953,' — which is itself neither purely cardinal numbers in words nor purely figures, creating an inconsistent drafting standard within a single Schedule."},{"type":"other","section":"Section 1(3)","severity":"low","reasoning":"Section 1(3) states the Principal Act 'as amended by this Act' may be cited as the 1910-1973 Act. However, since the Act only commences upon Proclamation (Section 2), at the time of Assent the Act has not yet amended anything. The citation provision in Section 1(3) refers to a state of affairs — the Principal Act as amended — that does not yet legally exist. This is a minor but genuine logical oddity: the Act names the outcome of its own amendments before those amendments are legally operative.","confidence":0.7,"description":"The citation provision bootstraps a name for the amended combined Act ('Northern Territory (Administration) Act 1910-1973') before the Act has commenced, since commencement depends on a Proclamation under Section 2. The combined citation implies the amendment has taken effect, yet legally it has not until Proclamation."}],"contradictions":[{"severity":"low","section_a":"Section 1(3)","section_b":"Section 2","confidence":0.7,"description":"Section 1(3) describes the Principal Act 'as amended by this Act' and provides it a combined citation, implying the amendments are operative. Section 2 expressly defers the commencement — and therefore the operative effect of all amendments — to a future Proclamation. These two provisions are in tension: one presupposes the amendments have taken effect for citation purposes, while the other ensures they legally have not until an external executive act occurs."},{"severity":"low","section_a":"Schedule Item 1","section_b":"Schedule Item 3","confidence":0.6,"description":"Schedule Item 1 mandates a blanket conversion of cardinal numbers expressed in words to figures across multiple provisions. Schedule Item 3 amends Section 21(9)(b) by replacing a fully worded date with a partially worded, partially figured form ('2nd September, 1953,') rather than applying the purely numerical standard Item 1 implies. If Section 21 falls within the scope of Item 1 (and it is listed in Item 2 of the Schedule, confirming it is in scope for formal amendments), Item 3's chosen substitution is inconsistent with Item 1's stated methodology."}]}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/northern-territory-administration-act-1973","history":"/api/acts/northern-territory-administration-act-1973/history","analysis":"/api/acts/northern-territory-administration-act-1973/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/northern-territory-administration-act-1973/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/northern-territory-administration-act-1973/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/northern-territory-administration-act-1973/documents"}}