Her early political career was as an assistant to state and federal politicians before being elected to the Legislative Council in 1982. Laidlaw variously served as the Minister for Transport (1995–1997), the Minister for Transport and Urban Planning (1997–2002), the Minister for the Arts (1993–2002), and the Minister for the Status of Women (1993–2002). As Minister for the Arts, she presided over the establishment of several new arts organisations, including the
Windmill Performing Arts for Children, the
Adelaide Cabaret Festival, the
Adelaide Festival of Ideas, and the very successful 1998 production of
Wagner's
Ring Cycle. She also promoted and advocated for Music Business and Music House, the
Adelaide Symphony Orchestra,
Country Arts SA and the
Adelaide Fringe Festival. It was Laidlaw who succeeded in obtaining funding for redevelopment of the
North Terrace precinct, the riverbank development and the West End and
Hindley Street precincts. She also presided over the expansion of the
Art Gallery, the
State Library,
Festival Centre and
Museum, and significantly boosted the
South Australian Film Corporation. In 2001, while Minister for the status of Women, she saw her government's
prostitution reform bill defeated in the Legislative Council. She is said to have been moved to tears, and called her colleagues "gutless". ==Honours and awards==