The South Australian Law Reform Institute (‘the Institute’), is pleased to accept a new Reference from the Attorney-General, The Hon. John Rau, MP.

The Reference was announced as part of His Excellency the Honourable Hieu Van Le AO’s speech  at the opening of Parliament on Tuesday 10 February 2015. It was acknowledged in this speech that there remains vestiges of formal discrimination on the South Australian statute books and “some individuals and families are not able to participate fully in our democracy because of who they are, whether it be lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender.”

This Reference has asked the Institute to conduct a review of legislative or regulatory discrimination against individuals and families on the grounds of sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or intersex status.

Professor John Williams, Dean of Law at the University of Adelaide and Director of the Institute, welcomed this announcement:

“This is one of the most significant references for the Institute and with my colleague, Sarah Moulds, we look forward to consulting with the communities and preparing a comprehensive final report to Government”.

The Reference will commence with an audit of current South Australian legislation to identify discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or intersex status.
Further details as to the report and consultation process will be released in due course. At this early stage the Institute invites stakeholders and interested parties to register their interest in participating by emailing the Institute .