Preceded by Ian Hunter Party Australian Labor Party Name Tony Piccolo | Preceded by Malcolm Buckby | |
 | ||
Born 22 February 1960 (age 64) ( 1960-02-22 ) Website South Australian Government Website Role Member of the South Australian House of Assembly Office Member of the South Australian House of Assembly since 2006 | ||
Political party Australian Labor Party | ||
Antonio "Tony" Piccolo (born 22 February 1960) is an Australian politician in the South Australian Branch of the Australian Labor Party as member for the South Australian House of Assembly seat of Light since the 2006 election.
Contents
Parliament
Piccolo won Light at the 2006 election with a 52.1 percent two-party-preferred vote from a swing of 4.9 points against the incumbent Liberal member, Malcolm Buckby. He was only the second Labor member ever to win this traditionally conservative urban-rural hybrid seat, and the first in 62 years. The only other Labor MP ever to win it was Sydney McHugh, who held it from 1941 to 1944 and had earlier held the federal seat of Wakefield.
Piccolo increased his vote to 55.3 percent at the 2010 election and became the first Labor MP to be re-elected to Light. Light was redistributed significantly; however, Piccolo retained the seat at the 2014 election with an unchanged two-party vote of 52.8 percent.
Piccolo's factional alignment within the Labor party changed during his time in office. In 2010, Piccolo was aligned with the Labor Left faction. At the time of his appointment to the ministry in 2013, he had switched from the Left faction to the Right following a "factional deal". At the time of his resignation from cabinet he remained aligned with the Right.
Minister
From 2013 to 2016 he served in nine various ministerial portfolios at different times in the Weatherill Labor cabinet – Disabilities, Youth, Volunteers, Communities and Social Inclusion, Social Housing, Police, Correctional Services, Emergency Services, and Road Safety. He announced his resignation from cabinet on 12 January 2016, citing cabinet renewal, and confirmed he intended to re-contest his seat at the 2018 election.