ALP 3.9%
Incumbent MP
Tony Piccolo, since 2006.
Geography
North of Adelaide. The seat is focused on Gawler and stretches north to Pinkerton Plains. The seat is an urban-rural fringe electorate.
Redistribution
Light shifted south, losing Roseworthy and Wasleys to Schubert, and gaining Kudla, Evanston South and the remainder of Munno Para Downs from Napier. These changes increased the Labor margin from 2.8% to 3.9%.
History
Light is a longstanding electorate for South Australian state elections. The seat existed as a multi-member seat from 1867 until 1902. The seat was then restored in 1938 and has existed ever since. Apart from one term in the 1940s, the Liberal Party held the seat continuously until 2006.
The Liberal and Country League won the seat in 1938. The ALP won in 1941, and lost the seat to the LCL in 1944. The LCL held the seat after 1944 for the next sixty years.
In 1970, the LCL’s Bruce Eastick won the seat. He served as the LCL’s leader in opposition from 1972 to 1975, during which time the party was renamed as the Liberal Party.
Eastick later served as Speaker from 1979 to 1982, and retired at the 1993 election.
Malcolm Buckby won the seat for the Liberal Party in 1993. He served as a shadow minister from 2002 to 2004.
In 2006, Buckby suffered a 4.9% swing, and lost his seat to Tony Piccolo. Piccolo was re-elected in 2010 and 2014.
Candidates
- Carl Teusner (Conservatives)
- Karen McColl (Liberal)
- Tony Piccolo (Labor)
- Felicity Green (Greens)
Assessment
Light is a marginal Labor seat. If there is a swing towards the Liberal Party the seat could be in play.
2014 election result
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing | Redist |
| Tony Piccolo | Labor | 9,919 | 46.2 | -0.2 | 46.5 |
| Cosie Costa | Liberal | 9,011 | 42.0 | +1.5 | 41.1 |
| Wendy Rose | Family First | 1,355 | 6.3 | +2.1 | 6.6 |
| Terry Allen | Greens | 1,193 | 5.6 | +0.2 | 5.7 |
| Informal | 592 | 2.7 |
2014 two-party-preferred result
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing | Redist |
| Tony Piccolo | Labor | 11,334 | 52.8 | 0.0 | 53.9 |
| Cosie Costa | Liberal | 10,144 | 47.2 | 0.0 | 46.1 |
Booth breakdown
Booths in Light have been divided into three areas: central, north and south.
Labor won a majority of the two-party-preferred vote in all three areas, ranging from 50.8% in the centre to 56.9% in the south.
| Voter group | ALP 2PP % | Total votes | % of votes |
| Central | 50.8 | 6,093 | 33.8 |
| South | 56.9 | 4,210 | 23.4 |
| North | 52.7 | 2,810 | 15.6 |
| Other votes | 54.3 | 4,902 | 27.2 |
Two-party-preferred votes in Light at the 2014 SA state election
My prediction: Given the seat now hangs no further north than Gawler town itself, and into some northern parts of Elizabeth, this will likely stay with Labor.