Leon Bignell, parliamentarian for the South Australian seat of Mawson, has been returned to the House by 115 votes.
Mawson includes one of Australia's most profitable wine regions, McLaren Vale.
Bignell's party, Labor, under Premier Jay Weatherill, lost the election to the right-wing Liberals under new premier Stephen Marshall.
Bignell's personal win had been considered an impossible task, given that the new electoral boundary redistribution removed many of the Labor member's left-leaning seaside suburbs from Mawson, extending it right down through the farmland of the Fleurieu Peninsula to include Kangaroo Island, traditionally country that leans further to the right as one travels south.
Leon's major rival, the popular Andy Gilfillan, is a noted and highly-respected Kangaroo Island organic sheep farmer. They both generously gave time to attend our McLaren Vale community meeting at the peak of the election campaign's fractal frenzy.
This is the first time the Island has ever been represented by a Labor candidate.
Congratulations, Biggles, and well-earned. You have done a great job in this beautiful, bountiful region. Thankyou for your tireless defence of agricultural land, and playing such a role in pushing though the McLaren Vale and Barossa Character Preservation legislations.
Milton Wordley was coming out of the supermarket when he caught the above photograph of Bignell in the new electoral office he opened in the Aldinga shops at the beginning of the campaign. You could just walk in and talk to him. Minister for Agriculture, Tourism, Sport, Racing, Fisheries and Forests.
"I enjoyed this more than any other election campaign," he said.
Drinkster is sure he'll continue to do a great job in Opposition.
2 comments:
Post a Comment