Editing Northern Territory Legislative Assembly (section)

== Source of legislative power ==
The Legislative Assembly acting with the assent of the administrator is vested with general legislative power, similar to that of the state parliaments.<ref>{{Cite Legislation AU|Cth|act|nta1978425|Northern Territory (Self‑Government) Act 1978|6}}</ref> The ''Northern Territory (Administration) Act 1974'' (Cth) granted self-government to the Territory. The federal government retains control of certain legislative areas, including Aboriginal land, industrial relations, national parks and uranium mining.

However, while the state parliaments derive their legislative powers from constitutional sources, the Northern Territory derives its legislative power from the delegation of powers from the Commonwealth. The [[Australian Parliament]] thus retains the right to legislate for the Territory, if it chooses to exercise it. This includes the power to override any legislation passed by the Northern Territory Parliament.

For example, in response to the Northern Territory Parliament's passage of the ''[[Rights of the Terminally Ill Act 1995]]'', the Territory's [[Euthanasia|voluntary euthanasia]] law, the federal Parliament passed the [[Euthanasia Laws Act 1997]], which amended the laws granting self-government to the territories–in the Northern Territory's case, the ''[[Northern Territory (Self-Government) Act 1978]]''–to remove that area from the legislative competences of the territories.