Federal, state and territory leaders have backed the Northern Territory's resolve to become Australia's seventh state by 2018.

A formal statement from yesterday's Leaders Retreat includes confirmation the push for NT statehood had support.

It was raised by NT Chief Minister Adam Giles, who will report on progress at the next COAG meeting.

"I was very pleased to have the support from colleagues at the table that I'm at now to see the Northern Territory strive to become a state by [July 1], 2018," Mr Giles said this afternoon.

"It was a non-partisan discussion and non-partisan support."

Yesterday, Mr Giles said the motion had been put to a number of COAG meetings in the past.

"I've had the opportunity of discussing statehood at the last couple of COAGs," he said.

"We've previously had all state and territory premiers on board supporting the NT becoming a state.

"But there have been some changes in the make-up of COAG. The last COAG had different premiers for Victoria and Queensland."

But Federal Treasurer Joe Hockey laughed at the idea when asked by reporters in Sydney.

"Haven't we heard this before?" he said, while laughing.

"I think we had a referendum not too long ago in the NT on that specific issue and they chose not to go down that path. So we'll leave it at that."

The Northern Territory voted against statehood at a 1998 referendum and, although the proposal has occasionally resurfaced, there have been no referendums since.

Despite statehood being an avowedly important philosophical issue for the ruling Country Liberals party, there has been little progress in recent years.

The NT Government has been criticised for lack of action and in June News Corp quoted Mr Giles as saying statehood was not a priority among Territorians.

Although there is a Minister for Statehood, the NT Government has not dedicated anyone to working on the process and no funding was allocated to statehood in the most recent budget.

Last month in budget estimates hearings, NT Statehood Minister Bess Price stumbled when trying to explain her position on the territory's application for statehood.

Ms Price paused for 40 seconds and then said it was a complicated issue.

'Not a snowball's chance in hell'

Charles Darwin University academic Rolf Gerritsen said there were significant hurdles to the Northern Territory becoming an official state by 2018.

"I don't think the proposal has a snowball's chance in hell of getting up," he said.

He said it was unlikely the Commonwealth would give the Territory control of the Aboriginal Land Rights Act.

"At the moment it's a Commonwealth act, so it would have to be made a Territory act if we were to have full statehood, because you're not a state if the Commonwealth controls 50 per cent of your Territory," he said.

"I expect the land councils would oppose the repatriation of the Land Rights Act. They have in the past. I think that would be a huge stumbling block in negotiations for statehood."

The chief executive officer of the Northern Land Council Joe Morrison said the NT Government had not considered the needs of Indigenous people in the statehood debate.

"There's been nothing thus far that's given any comfort to Aboriginal people in the NT that the Northern Territory is a state that can do the right thing for Aboriginal Territorians," he said.

Professor Gerritsen also said it was unlikely other states and Territories would support statehood, despite the show of hands at the leaders retreat in Sydney.

"The leaders at the retreat have said, 'Oh yeah, we agree to you becoming a state', but they haven't thought about it."

He said the two roads to statehood, via referendum or changing Commonwealth legislation, are unlikely to work or happen.

"If you become a state by referendum I think a majority of other states would vote against the Territory becoming a state because it upsets the political apple cart," he said.

"If you become a state by Commonwealth legislation, then you have no more independence ultimately than you do now."

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