Interestingly, while granting the NT and/or ACT statehood would require changes to the Australian Constitution, adding NZ to Australia would not.
The Libs would never agree to ACT statehood, for much the same reason that the Republicans will always oppose DC statehood. DC would inevitably elect 2x Democrat senators, while the ACT would elect 5x ALP members to the House of Reps, and progressive candidates (mostly ALP/Green) would fill 2/3 of the ACT's Senate seats.
Statehood would result in the creation of 2x very safe ALP seats, and change a 1-1 Senate split (from 2019, noting that the Libs lost their Senate seat in the recent election) to an 8-4 split in favour of the progressives.
I can't see the Libs ever agreeing to that...
So, with both countries having one intransigent party who would never agree - for reasons of naked political self interest - the hundreds of thousands of people in both DC and the ACT will remain disenfranchised.
The Libs would never agree to ACT statehood, for much the same reason that the Republicans will always oppose DC statehood. DC would inevitably elect 2x Democrat senators, while the ACT would elect 5x ALP members to the House of Reps, and progressive candidates (mostly ALP/Green) would fill 2/3 of the ACT's Senate seats.
Statehood would result in the creation of 2x very safe ALP seats, and change a 1-1 Senate split (from 2019, noting that the Libs lost their Senate seat in the recent election) to an 8-4 split in favour of the progressives.
I can't see the Libs ever agreeing to that...
So, with both countries having one intransigent party who would never agree - for reasons of naked political self interest - the hundreds of thousands of people in both DC and the ACT will remain disenfranchised.