About Tony Piccolo MP

Tony was first elected to State Parliament as the Member for Light on the 18th March 2006 after serving as Mayor of Gawler for six years. He was re-elected on the 20th March 2010 for his second four-year term. Currently Tony is Parliamentary Secretary to the Premier and also sits on a number of Caucus Sub Committees. Tony also holds the positions of Chair of the Volunteer Ministerial Advisory Group, Deputy Chair of the Business Development Council, and National Covenor of the Forum of Italo-Australian Parliamentarians.

Tony was first elected Mayor in May 2000 after serving as the town’s Deputy Mayor for 10 years. In May 2003 he was re-elected for a second three-year term. First elected to the position of Mayor at age 40, he is the first to come from a non-English speaking background. A single dad, Tony lives with his two sons Raffaele and Stefan at Kudla and has lived in the Gawler area since 1963 when he arrived in Australia with his family. Tony was born in Naples, Italy, and migrated to Australia at age three.

Tony attended Evanston Primary School, Gawler High School and then went on to complete a Bachelor of Economics Degree majoring in accounting at Adelaide University. He later completed a Graduate Certificate in Education and a Masters Degree in Educational Management at the Flinders University of South Australia. Tony has worked in the chartered accountancy field, State and Federal public administration and was employed as a Business Manager at Trinity College Gawler Inc. prior to entering Parliament.

Tony commenced his involvement in local government in 1981 (at age 21) when he was elected councilor to the Munno Para Council. Following boundary adjustments between the City of Munno Para and the Town of Gawler, Tony sought election to the Gawler Council in 1985 as an alderman. Since 1981, Tony had been re-elected to Council 10 times over a period of 24 years.

In 2001 Tony was awarded the Centenary of Federation Medal for service to Local Government, In particular as Mayor of the Town of Gawler. When time permits, Tony enjoys watching quality films and reading about world events.