A big year of legislative reform

A busy parliamentary year has seen the Malinauskas Labor Government pass a suite of nation-leading legislation, with 60 Bills passed into law.

A world-leading ban on electoral donations while persuading the Federal Government to introduce landmark legislation to ban children under the age of 16 from social media highlights the Government’s reforming agenda.

The year 2024 has seen the passage of some 60 Bills through State Parliament, including significantly increasing the penalties for dealing with the illicit tobacco and vape market, nation-leading penalties for breaching our state’s casino laws and allowing authorities to indefinitely jail repeat serious child sex offenders.

Other legislation passed includes:

• the legalisation of e-scooters and other personal mobility devices on South Australian roads and footpaths
• people found displaying swastikas in public or performing a Nazi salute could be fined up to $20,000 or face a year in jail, under tough new laws passed this year
• looking after local businesses by mandating contractor invoices to government must be paid within 15 days
• strengthening standards and addressing instances of inappropriate and criminal behaviour in the driver training industry in the biggest shakeup of driver training laws in state history
• safeguarding education standards with the passage of the Office for Early Childhood Development Bill
• passing special-purpose legislation to secure the long-term future of the Crown and Anchor Hotel as a live music venue and providing ongoing protection for key live music pubs in the City of Adelaide against noise complaints from future residents
• criminals who seek to get around the law by getting children to do their dirty work can now face up to 15 years in prison under Labor legislation.

In addition to passing 19 Bills this year that were introduced in 2023, the Government has introduced around 70 new pieces of legislation in 2024, of which 60 have now passed.

Quotes

Attributable to Tom Koutsantonis

The range of legislation passed by the Malinauskas Government in 2024 shows that we are getting on with the job for all South Australians.

We thank the crossbench that has worked so collaboratively with us in 2024 to help deliver this bold agenda, but there is much, much more to do.

We are delivering on our commitments and governing for the future – and we look forward to parliament reconvening in 2025 to continue our ambitious legislative reforms.