SOUTH AUSTRALIAN ELECTION 2010

LIGHT Labor 2.4%
Region: Gawler Federal divisions: Wakefield/Barker/Mayo
	TONY PICCOLO Labor (top) PENNY JOHNSTON Greens MATTHEW ALLPRESS Gamers 4 Croydon LACHLAN HETHERINGTON Fair Land Tax - Tax Party TONY BATES Family First COSIE COSTA Liberal (bottom) SIMON STEWART-RATTRAY Save RAH
Electoral District Boundaries Commission map

Light bears the name of colonial founding father Colonel William Light, and has existed as an electorate since self-government was established in 1857. In modern times it has been based on Gawler, a town of 20,000 located about five kilometres north of the present limits of Adelaide. The electorate also extends south into Adelaide's outer reaches at Munno Para, a strongly Labor area that laid the foundation for their candidate's victory in 2006 despite Liberal majorities in the main Gawler booths. The entire area is experiencing rapid growth, particularly in the developing Gawler suburbs of Hewett in the north and Evanston Park in the south. The redistribution has transferred a conservative-voting rural area around Freeling to Schubert in the north-east, along with smaller areas at Angle Vale and Bibaringa west and south of Gawler to Taylor and Napier. East of Gawler, it gains Barossa Goldfields north to Kingsford from Schubert. All of these areas are lightly populated, so the impact on the margin has been a modest 0.2 per cent shift in Labor's favour.

Prior to 2006, Light had only been in Labor hands at the party's national high-water mark during World War II. The turning point came when Munno Para was added at the redistribution before the 2002 election, which slashed the existing Liberal margin from 6.4 per cent to 1.4 per cent. The seat thus emerged as one Labor needed to win if they were to secure a majority in what loomed as a tight election. The party's deputy leader, Annette Hurley, volunteered to put her career on the line (in the short term at least) by abandoning safe Labor Napier to contest the seat. While Hurley managed to add 4.0 per cent to Labor's primary vote, the collapse of the Democrats (from 21.7 per cent in 1997 to 5.4 per cent) produced a less favourable flow of preferences, allowing Education Minister Malcolm Buckby to add 1.0 per cent to his existing two-party margin. Hurley was rewarded for her sacrifice with a Senate seat at the 2004 election.

Labor did well at the 2006 election to enlist Gawler mayor Tony Piccolo, who contested unsuccessfully way back in 1985 at the age of 25. Buckby did relatively well to limit the swing to 4.7 per cent, but it wasn't enough to stop Piccolo securing a 2.2 per cent margin. Labor picked up a 14.0 per cent swing in rapidly growing Angle Vale, half of which has now been lost to the electorate, but the Liberals actually picked up swings in the Labor strongholds of Smithfield Plains and Munno Para. Swings in the Gawler and small country booths were around 5 per cent.

This time the Liberals have nominated Evanston Gardens resident Cosie Costa, who runs an earth-moving business and formerly coached the Virginia Football Club. Unsuccessful nominees for preselection were barrister Michael Manetta, who was widely considered the front-runner, and local businessman Terry Stuart. According to Greg Kelton of The Advertiser, Labor was hoping they would pick Kensington-based Manetta so they could campaign on his lack of connection to the electorate. It was earlier suggested the seat might be of interest to David Fawcett, who did well to win the corresponding federal seat of Wakefield in 2004 before losing to Labor's Nick Champion in 2007.

Shortly before the government went into caretaker mode, it hurried through a rezoning at Gawler Racecourse allowing for development of a 4.3 hectare shopping centre and office development. It is unclear how clever an idea this was in regard to their electoral prospects in Light, as the development was opposed by a local council that believed it would divert trade from downtown Gawler. Late in the second week of the campaign, Isobel Redmond promised to spend $35 million on a new 55-bed hospital at Tanunda, on which the Liberals promised to spend $12 million during their unsuccessful bid for re-election in 2002. This would replace existing hospitals at Angaston and Tanunda (47 beds between them), which would respectively be demolished and converted into an aged care facility. While located in safe Liberal Schubert, the 30 kilometre radius it would serve covers parts of Light and Stuart (Liberal 0.4 per cent). Health Minister John Hill complained the funding came from the $1 billion the Liberals said they would save by rebuilding Royal Adelaide Hospital, a figure hotly disputed by the government.

PREDICTION: LIBERAL GAIN