Discriminatory or derogatory place names are those determined by the Place Names Committee to be:

• offensive
• demeaning or
• harmful to the reputation of individuals, or to social, ethnic, religious, or other groups.

Discriminatory or derogatory place names are not acceptable and the Place Names Committee is committed to ensuring that place names in the Northern Territory deemed to be so, are replaced with appropriate names that reflect the NT history, culture and community.

In March 2019, the Committee adopted the Discriminatory or Derogatory Place Names Policy that sets out the principles and procedures for requests to change place names suggested to be discriminatory or derogatory in the Northern Territory.

Any person or group may submit a request to change a currently used name on the grounds that they believe the name is discriminatory or derogatory.

Refer to the policy PDF (260.3 KB) for information about what type of names fall within the scope.

Find out more about how places are named.