The Speaker of the House of Assembly and Member for Mawson Leon Bignell has announced he will retire from politics at the March election.
Leon Bignell has served as the Member for Mawson since 2006, acting as a fierce parliamentary advocate for communities in the McLaren Vale wine region, the Fleurieu Peninsula and Kangaroo Island.
Leon has built a reputation of always helping individuals, schools, businesses, community groups and sports clubs.
That was never more evident than during the deadly Kangaroo Island bushfires in 2019-20 when Leon rolled up his sleeves and worked side by side with islanders to help them during the fires.
From 2013 to 2018, Leon Bignell was Minister for Agriculture, Food, Fisheries, Forests, Tourism, Sport, Recreation and Racing.
As minister, he grew export markets for South Australia’s premium food and wine and doubled the visitor economy in five years taking it from $4 billion to $8 billion a year.
He fought hard to get the funding to duplicate the Southern Expressway and for the extension and electrification of the rail line to Seaford, and worked to lock in legislation that stopped urban sprawl into our precious wine regions of McLaren Vale and the Barossa Valley.
Leon Bignell was elected Speaker of the House of Assembly in April 2024.
Prior to entering Parliament, Mr Bignell worked for two decades as a journalist including stints with the ABC, Channel 7, Channel 10, News Ltd and two years working in Switzerland as a foreign correspondent.
Quotes
Attributable to Peter Malinauskas
Leon Bignell is a phenomenon.
There are few MPs with such a powerful ability to connect with their communities and with people from all walks of life.
This power of connection has made him a highly effective leader. The people of Mawson have always known that Leon would fight for them. That was especially true during the KI bushfires.
As an MP and a Minister, Leon was focused on delivery. He leaves a visible legacy of significant infrastructure, and legislation that protects our precious winegrowing regions from being swamped by suburbs.
As Speaker, he’s served the Parliament well, ensuring fair debate and finding common ground across party lines across the chamber.
I wish Leon well in the next phase of his career.
Attributable to Leon Bignell
I love the people of our local area and I love every inch of our beautiful part of the world that I call home.
From McLaren Vale to the western end of Kangaroo Island we have a series of communities. Some large like Aldinga, some small like Second Valley.
They all have their own personality. And they're all full of wonderful personalities.
It's been my absolute pleasure to work hard for each and every one of them during the past 20 years.
Together we came up with the toughest protection laws in Australia to save the McLaren Vale food and wine region from urban sprawl and gutter to gutter housing.
That Act of Parliament locks in a billion dollar a year food, wine and tourism sector and has helped support thousands of local jobs and hundreds of small, medium and large businesses.
Politics is not that complicated. Democracy is about people. So if you put your hand up to serve you have to be out and about with the people you represent.
They're your bosses. Listen to their feedback, their needs and aspirations and go into bat for them. When the chips are down, like during the devastating Kangaroo Island bushfires of 2019-20, double down. Get in, offer support any way you can. It might literally be a shoulder to cry on or it might be delivering two-way radios to keep farm firefighters safe or generators to help people get back on their feet.
To the school students, the sporting clubs and community groups across the electorate thank you for inspiring me, for energising me and for giving me your time.
To the people of Mawson. Thanks so much for your trust and for backing me in at five successive elections since 2006. I’m still here until March 21. And I’ll be working hard for our area right up to election day.
Thankyou to Premier Peter Malinauskas for his outstanding leadership of our state and for giving South Australians a huge confidence boost with the way they think about their state.
Peter is an exceptional person. What you see is exactly what you get. He’s a tireless worker, a big picture thinker and always has his eye on what’s best for everyday people.
It’s been a pleasure to work alongside him and the Labor team.
