No. A company registers once with ASIC and can trade in every Australian state and territory under that single registration, without needing a separate address, or a separate registration, in each place [Privacy Shield, privacyshield.gov]. Your registered office can sit anywhere in Australia, regardless of which states you actually do business in.
Why one address covers the whole country
When you register a company, you choose one state or territory of registration, but this does not limit where you can trade [ASIC, asic.gov.au]. Your registered office and principal place of business do not need to be in the same state as each other, or anywhere near where your clients or operations actually are [Patricia Holdings, patricia.com.au]. A Melbourne-based company can sell nationally, and a company with a Sydney registered office can run its principal operations from Perth.
Where multi-state complexity genuinely shows up
This is the part people actually need to plan for, and it has nothing to do with your registered address. If you employ staff in more than one state, payroll tax obligations follow where the work is performed, not where your company is registered or where its address sits [LegalVision, legalvision.com.au]. Each state has its own threshold and rate, and if your wages cross multiple state thresholds, you may need to register and lodge separately in each one [FairWork Mate, fairworkmate.com.au].
What this means practically
If you are expanding interstate, you do not need to set up a new address in every new state. You need to track where your employees actually work and check each relevant state's payroll tax threshold separately. Your company's address obligations stay simple: one registered office, kept current with ASIC, regardless of how many states you trade in.
Where a virtual address fits
If you want a credible local presence in a new state without relocating your registered office there, a separate virtual address in that city can support your local invoicing and marketing, while your core ASIC registration stays exactly where it is.
Space Penguin offers virtual addresses in Sydney and Melbourne from $20 per month plus GST, with no setup fee and no lock-in. Visit spacepenguin.io/virtual-address for current details.