About Connie

Connie Bonaros holds an Honours degree in Law and a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in Modern Greek and Social Politics, both from the University of Adelaide. Her political career began more than 14 years before her election to South Australia’s Legislative Council in 2018. She started as a senior adviser to Nick Xenophon and later served as Chief of Staff to Senator Stirling Griff, gaining valuable experience - at both state and federal levels - with the Xenophon team.

In her early work with Nick, Connie was fortunate enough to be a part of a campaign that resulted in the establishment of a dedicated Dust Diseases Tribunal for asbestos related illnesses - and credits this work for her strong stance on the power of grassroots campaigns.

Since entering parliament, Connie has been a strong and compassionate voice in South Australia’s Upper House.  A long-time advocate for gambling reform, she has led the charge against predatory gambling practices and the widespread harm they cause. 

Equally committed to justice and safety, Connie has been a fierce advocate for victims of crime and child protection, driving landmark reforms including criminalising “stealthing,” banning spit-hoods, and pushing for clearer, more truthful legal language in cases of child sexual abuse. She is also leading efforts to end period poverty through universal access to menstrual products and proudly supports this work as an ambassador for KickStart for Kids.

Connie’s commitment to gender equality runs deep. She initiated the inquiry into bullying and harassment in the legal profession, helping expose a culture of silence and imbalance in one of the state’s most powerful sectors. She has twice introduced legislation to establish a Commissioner for Gender Equality to hold public institutions accountable.

Her legislative achievements span a wide range of vital reforms. She successfully introduced major changes to the Coroners Act, strengthening coroners’ powers to conduct thorough investigations and hold government accountable. She spearheaded amendments to the Equal Opportunity Act to remove outdated exemptions for MPs and the judiciary, expanding protections for all South Australians. 

Following the tragic death of a teenager, Connie introduced a private members bill that banned the sale of LPG bottles without appropriate safety labels. She has also criminalised child-like sex dolls and related child exploitation material, and led Australia-first reforms aligning drug driving laws with drink driving offences, including updated motorbike licensing requirements for young people.

Connie has championed laws preventing persons charged with child sex offences from working with children, strengthening safeguards for vulnerable young people in the workplace. She successfully advocated for legislation banning the use of spit-hoods in all detention settings and advanced major corrections reforms consistent with international standards. She was instrumental in implementing an IVF donor conception register and fought to give public servants the freedom to choose their superannuation funds. 

South Australia became one of the very few jurisdictions worldwide to criminalise non-consensual condom removal (“stealthing”) under her leadership. She also introduced pioneering laws addressing the creation and distribution of deepfake invasive images.

Beyond legislation, Connie has played a key role in complex stakeholder negotiations, mediating a long-term solution for the management of the South Australian marine park and sanctuary zone network, by bringing diverse groups to the table. The negotiations resulted in an unprecedented landmark memorandum of understanding between the conservation sectors and the seafood and fishing sectors. 

Following this, she successfully lobbied for the reversal of a federal decision that would have allowed an offshore wind farm zone to include Port MacDonnell - one of our most iconic and pristine regional coastal towns and home to our most valuable seafood resource, the Southern Rock Lobster fishery.  

Her commitment to protecting our pristine waters and our fisheries, also culminated in compensation rights for fishers, equivalent to landholder entitlements.  After a two decade campagin working alongside the seafood sector in SA, she ensured South Australia led the way in the implementation of nationwide 'country of origin' labelling laws.  

Connie contributed to higher education reform by participating in the University Merger Committee and secured the passage of legislation that led to establishment of the new Adelaide University. 

As part of the reform package, Connie secured $60 million – in perpetuity – in additional funding for scholarships for regional, remote, and low economic background students for the new university and Flinders University. 

Connie also successfully secured the passage of legislation facilitating construction of the new Women’s and Children’s Hospital.

Connie has successfully secured changes to our Return to Work scheme that reversed measures adversely impacting injured workers and resulted in additional protections for our state's most vulnerable injured workers and asbestos related diseases victims. 

She also clawed back draconian government-led reforms to our protest laws. 

Connie’s work also resulted in the government adopting her proposal to better protect children in the workforce by prohibiting anyone charged with, or convicted of, serious child sex offences from working alongside young people in retail, fast food, or any other workplace employing children.

Most recently, Connie was successful in securing support for another equal opportunity inquiry – this time into local government and banning gambling advertising on all publicly owned transport and related infrastructure. 

With over 22 years of experience at both state and federal levels, Connie brings legal insight, policy depth, and a relentless focus on fairness. She is a strong voice for safer workplaces—particularly for young people—and through her committee work, has helped uncover systemic failings in health care and government accountability.

At her core, Connie is driven by people and purpose. She thrives on the challenge of bringing politics to the centre, grounded in pragmatism, and believes there is always room for common ground - especially when the focus remains on people, not politics.

Proud of her Greek heritage and deeply community-focused, she brings empathy, courage, and lived experience to every aspect of her work. As a parent, she is grounded by a desire to build a safer, more equal future for the next generation — and it is this perspective that continues to guide her fight for a fairer South Australia.