Background
In 2019, Multicultural Affairs undertook a review of the South Australian Multicultural and Ethnic Affairs Commission Act 1980, which was the first major review of our state’s key piece of multicultural legislation in 30 years.
The key purpose of the review was to achieve new legislation to meet the needs of our contemporary society and set a foundation for new multicultural policy directions.
On 14 October 2020, the South Australian Multicultural Bill 2020 was introduced to Parliament. The Bill reflected the feedback received during the statewide consultation process undertaken as part of the review. It passed both Houses of Parliament on 14 October 2021, was assented by Her Excellency, the Honourable Frances Adamson AC on 21 October 2021 and on 2 December 2021 came into operation.
Consultation process
To inform the consultation process as part of the review, Multicultural Affairs prepared two papers:
- Discussion Paper, which discussed options and posed questions on how best to re-model the legislation for the future.
- Research Paper, which featured a survey of approaches in other Australian jurisdictions.
Multicultural Legislative Review 2019 Discussion Paper (PDF, 1.2 MB)
Multicultural Legislative Review 2019 Research Paper (PDF, 1.0 MB)
These papers should be read in conjunction with the South Australian Multicultural and Ethnic Affairs Commission Act 1980.
Multicultural Affairs undertook an extensive community and stakeholder consultation process over seven weeks from 15 April 2019 to 3 June 2019.
Six community forums were held in metropolitan and regional South Australia, as well as a targeted workshop for key stakeholders across business, government and the not-for-profit sector.
South Australians also provided input via written submissions, contributions to an online conversation and responses to a detailed survey on the YourSAy website.
Written Submissions: Multicultural Legislative Review (PDF, 7.8 MB)
This consultation was a critical phase of the review, and the contributions received informed Multicultural Affairs’ recommendations to government about what changes to the legislation should be considered.
Reporting back
A Consultation Summary and Report communicating what we heard from the community and stakeholders are available below.
Consultation Summary: Multicultural Legislative Review (PDF, 1006.9 KB)
Multicultural Legislative Review 2019 Consultation Report (PDF, 1.2 MB)