Statutes Amendment (Local Government Review) Act 2021

Over the last few years, South Australia’s system of local government has been under review. The Statutes Amendment (Local Government Review) Act 2021 passed Parliament and received the Governor's assent on 17 June 2021.

When commenced, the Act will amend a range of laws related to local government in South Australia including:

• Local Government Act 1999
• Local Government (Elections) Act 1999
• City of Adelaide Act 1998

Key reforms

The major reforms in the Amendment Act are based on ideas submitted during the Local Government Reform Program consultation that was held in early 2019.

Some key reforms include:

• a new conduct management framework for council members
• an expansion of expert, independent advice to councils on a range of critical financial and governance matters
• a modern approach to public consultation
• a range of improvements to regulation to reduce councils’ costs.

Staged commencement

The local government reforms will commence in stages.

The fifth stage of reforms included a proclamation on 17 November 2022 with the following commencement date:

• 17 November 2022 (PDF, 72 KB)

Notices published in the Government Gazette on 17 November 2022, are available on the Publications page.

The fourth stage of reforms included a proclamation on 7 July 2022 with the following commencement date:

• 7 July 2022 (PDF, 68 KB)

The third stage of reforms included a proclamation on 17 February 2022 with the following commencement date related to the appointment of members of the Behavioural Standards Panel.

• 17 February 2022 (PDF, 78 KB)

The second stage of reforms was included in a proclamation on 23 December 2021, which includes the following commencement dates for various reforms:

• 6 January 2022 (PDF, 116 KB)
• 30 April 2022 (PDF, 135 KB)
• 30 June 2022 (PDF, 111 KB)
• 30 June 2023 (PDF, 111 KB)
• 31 August 2023 (PDF, 111 KB)
• 30 November 2023 (PDF, 112 KB)

The first stage of the reforms was included in a proclamation on 16 September 2021, which included two commencement dates:

• 20 September 2021 (PDF, 149 KB)
• 10 November 2021 (PDF, 138 KB)

Other reforms will be commenced by further proclamations in 2022.

Impact on current legislation

The following lists the relevant legislation and how it will be impacted by the Amendment Act and Variation Regulations.

These marked-up versions are provided for reference purposes only.