ABSTRACT
Australia, the world’s sixth largest country, has a total surface area of 7,686,850 square kilometres and a population of approximately 21.3 million (December 2008 estimate). The country consists of six states and two major mainland territories. At 30 June 2006, 77 per cent of Australia’s population was based across three of the six states: namely, Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland (ABS 2008a).
