Australia Cities

Australia has six states, two major mainland territories, and other minor territories. The states are New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, and Western Australia. The two major mainland territories are the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory.

Australia Cities:

Sydney city (New South Wales), Melbourne city (Victoria), Canberra (Australian Capital Territory), Brisbane (Queensland), Perth (Western Australia), Adelaide (South Australia), Gold Coast (Queensland), Newcastle (New South Wales), Wollongong (New South Wales), Sunshine Coast (Queensland), Geelong (Victoria), Townsville (Queensland), Cairns (Queensland), Toowoomba (Queensland), Darwin (Northern Territory), Launceston (Tasmania), Albury (New South Wales), Ballarat (Victoria), Bendigo (Victoria).

Economy of Australia

Australia has a prosperous, Western-style mixed economy, with a per capita GDP slightly higher than that of the UK, Germany, and France in terms of purchasing power parity. The country was ranked third in the United Nations' 2007 Human Development Index and sixth in The Economist worldwide quality-of-life index 2005. The absence of an export-oriented manufacturing industry has been considered a key weakness of the Australian economy. More recently, rising prices for Australia's commodity exports and increasing tourism have made this criticism less relevant. Nevertheless, Australia has the world's fourth largest current account deficit in absolute terms. This is considered problematic by some economists, especially as it has coincided with the high terms of trade and low interest rates that make the cost of servicing the foreign debt low.

The Government started the process of economic reform by floating the Australian dollar in 1983, and partially deregulating the financial system. The Government continued the process of microeconomic reform, including a partial deregulation of the labour market and the privatisation of state-owned businesses, most notably in the telecommunications industry. The indirect tax system was substantially reformed in July 2000 with the introduction of a 10% Goods and Services Tax (GST), which has slightly reduced the heavy reliance on personal and company income tax that characterises Australia's tax system.

The service sector of the economy, including tourism, education and financial services, constitutes 69% of GDP. Agriculture and natural resources constitute 3% and 5% of GDP but contribute substantially to export performance. Australia's largest export markets include Japan, China, the US, South Korea & New Zealand.

Climate In Australia

Climate of Australia varies widely, but by far the largest part of Australia is desert or semi-arid – 40% of the landmass is covered by sand dunes. Only the south-east and south-west corners have a temperate climate and moderately fertile soil. The northern part of the country has a tropical climate: part is tropical rainforests, part grasslands, and part desert.

Rainfall is highly variable, with frequent droughts lasting several seasons thought to be caused in part by the El Niño-Southern Oscillation. Occasionally a duststorm will blanket a region or even several states and there are reports of the occasional large tornado. Rising levels of salinity and desertification in some areas is ravaging the landscape.

Australia's tropical/subtropical location and cold waters off the western coast make most of western Australia a hot desert with aridity, a marked feature of greater part of the continent. These cold waters produce precious little moisture needed on the mainland. A 2005 study by Australian and American researchers investigated the desertification of the interior, and suggested that one explanation was related to human settlers who arrived about 50,000 years ago. Regular burning by these settlers could have prevented monsoons from reaching interior Australia.

Australia's hottest temperatures may reach 50°C, while minimums can reach sub-zero temperatures. The continent does not have very high mountain ranges and is surrounded by mostly warm oceans. The result is that extremely cold temperatures are uncommon.

The Australia

Commonwealth of Australia is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the mainland of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania, and a number of other islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. The neighbouring countries are Indonesia, East Timor, and Papua New Guinea to the north, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and New Caledonia to the north-east, and New Zealand to the south-east. The capital city is Canberra, located in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). the population concentrated in and around the mainland state capitals of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, and Adelaide.
Australia has six states, two major mainland territories, and other minor territories. The states are New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, and Western Australia. The two major mainland territories are the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory. In most respects, the territories function like the states, but the Commonwealth Parliament can override any legislation of their parliaments.
Australia also has several minor territories; the federal government administers a separate area within New South Wales, the Jervis Bay Territory, as a naval base and sea port for the national capital. In addition Australia has the following, inhabited, external territories: Norfolk Island, Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, and several largely uninhabited external territories: Ashmore and Cartier Islands, Coral Sea Islands, Heard Island and McDonald Islands, and the Australian Antarctic Territory.