Piccolo (Mayor) (Tony) Antonio

**Fast Facts**
Type of person	Individual
Date of arrival	1963

Antonio Piccolo was elected Gawler Alderman in 1985 to 1993, and was Deputy Mayor 1989 to 2000. He was Councillor for Reid ward 1993 to 2000. He was Mayor in 2000 to 5/2006.

Tony is currently the Member for the State Electorate Light and the Deputy Speaker of the South Australian House of Assembly.

In addition to his electorate duties, Tony is the current Chair of the Ministerial Advisory Group for Volunteering, the National Convenor of the Forum of the Italo-Australian Parliamentarians and the Deputy Chair of the Business Development Council.

Tony was re-elected to State Parliament in March 2010 after becoming the first Labor member to be elected for the seat of Light in almost 60 years in 2006. Tony was one of only two Labor members to increase his vote at the 2010 State Election.

Prior to entering State Parliament in 2006 Tony was the Mayor of the Town of Gawler and employed as the Business Manager at Trinity College Gawler; holding both roles for about six years.

Tony served for almost 25 years in Local Government, contesting his first election as a Councillor for Evanston Ward in the (then) District Council of Munno Para in 1981 at the age of 21.

Tony was re-elected in 1983, and was then elected as an Alderman for the Town of Gawler in 1985 when the boundaries between the two councils changed. Tony was further elected to the Town of Gawler in 1987, 89, 91, 93, 95, 97 and 2000, and 2003; the last two as Mayor of the Town. Tony served the Council as deputy mayor for about 10 years between 1989 and 2000.

Tony has lived in the electorate since he arrived from Italy as a young boy in 1963 with his parents Raffaele and Maria and older sister Antonietta, and lives with his two sons Raffaele and Stefan at Kudla.

An accountant by profession, Tony has worked in the Chartered accountancy field and in State and Federal Public Administration since graduating from the University of Adelaide with an Economics Degree in 1980. Tony went on to complete a Masters Degree in Education Management majoring in Human Resources Management in 1997 at the Flinders University of South Australia.

Tony attended Evanston Primary and Gawler High Schools prior to undertaking university studies.

During his time in local government Tony took an active interest in planning and development issues and community engagement and community capacity building and was the inaugural Chair of the Town of Gawler Development Assessment Panel.

As the member for Light Tony has continued his interest in planning and development issues and was successful in negotiating through parliament a private members bill to provide commercial buildings within historic conservation zones greater protection.

As a parliamentarian Tony has promoted the reform of the Franchise Code of Practice, the introduction of a Small Business Commissioner, greater protection for farmers when purchasing machinery and greater access to justice through his work in developing a State based Tribunal to provide for the independent review of State and Local Government decisions and minor civil matters.

Tony was recently successful in moving a motion in State Parliament seeking to acknowledge the pain and hurt suffered by people of Italian, German and Japanese background (amongst others) who were interned in Camps around Australia during World War 2 despite them not having committed or alleged to have committed any crime.

Please click here for more photos of Tony Piccolo.

Click Here to read the Bunyip article of 31st July 2019: "40 Years a Labor Member". We thank the Bunyip for their support in providing this page for display on our website.

click here to see the video of Tony Piccolo addressing the Gawler History Team on the history of the Labor Party and trade unions in Gawler

Humans of Gawler

Tony Piccolo MP

"It is a privilege and honour to be the local MP for such a wonderful community."

Tony's full name is Antonio Piccolo and he was born on 22nd of February (same day as George Washington!) 1960 in Naples Italy. He migrated to Australia (Kudla!) in March 1963 with his parents Raffaele and Maria Piccolo and his older sister Antoinetta. He attended Evanston Primary School and Gawler High School (now Gawler and District College). "Gawler has a strong sense of self and people feel like they belong to a well-defined community."

His interests include art house films, theatre, running (check out the Gawler parkrun), reading and he loves his AFL being a supporter of Port Power.

He has worked in Gawler as the local MP and previously (2000-2006) as the Business Manager at Trinity College Gawler. He has continuously held public office since October 1981 when he was elected a councillor on the then District Council of Munno Para. He has held the position of councillor, alderman, Deputy Mayor and Mayor with the Town of Gawler.

He served on local council for almost 25 years prior to his election to State Parliament in 2006.

He has two adult sons, Raffaele and Stefan who were born in Gawler at the Old Hutchinson Hospital.

First shared on Gawler in Photographs ‘Humans of Gawler’ series 1 April 2020.

Photographs by Daniel James Down. Please click here to visit the Gawler in Photographs Facebook page.

Gawler History Team Inc thanks Daniel James Down (Gawler in Photographs) and the subjects of ‘Humans of Gawler’ for allowing us to preserve their profiles and photographs for future generations of Gawlerites to enjoy.