THE Labor Party has been rocked after explosive allegations of bullying by a former trainee were laid on long-serving Member for Light Tony Piccolo.

Bradley Johnson this month made a formal complaint to party leader Peter Malinauskas regarding alleged treatment he received while working as a trainee in Mr Piccolo’s Light electorate office in Gawler in 2018.

Aged 18 during the 12-month traineeship, Mr Johnson claimed he was on the receiving end of “inappropriate comments and general belittlement” from Mr Piccolo.

Speaking to The Bunyip, Mr Johnson said he decided to go public with his experiences after bullying claims had been alleged against politicians from both sides of the divide.

Asked yesterday by The Bunyip for comment, Mr Piccolo said he “would fully co-operate” with an independent review that has been instigated by SA Labor.

News emerged in late July that an external investigator had been brought in to investigate claims of bullying against Sport Minister Corey Wingard and a member of his staff.

Former Labor frontbencher Jayne Stinson has also been the subject of similar allegations after a former staffer raised concerns about her treatment in the Badcoe electorate office.

Mr Johnson, a member of the Labor Party and president of the Ramsay sub-branch, said he had been going back and forth for “quite a while” about coming forward but was inspired after similar instances were aired.

“I’d be kicking myself my whole life if I didn’t do anything,” he said.

Starting his traineeship in the lead-up to the 2018 state election, Mr Johnson said he chalked up the “little comments here and there” to Mr Piccolo being stressed.

But he said the comments became worse after the election.

Mr Johnson said the bullying came in the form of making comments about his weight and appearance in front of other co-workers and heavily criticising his work without a specific reason.

“He would just walk into the room and go ‘jeez, you’ve put on a bit of weight lately’, or I would get in the car with him and he would comment on how I am weighing down that side of the car,” he said.

“I just eventually got to the point where it was getting harder and harder to go into work because I knew I would have to face him.

“(It was) constant comments that just really wore me down basically.”

Mr Johnson said the treatment left him in “a dark place”, experiencing depressive episodes and panic attacks.

He said it affected his mental health to the point where he struggled to get out of bed in the morning.

Mr Johnson also claimed he was coerced into resigning from his traineeship, despite having a month to go.

After being called into Mr Piccolo’s office, Mr Johnson was presented with an ultimatum to resign before close of business that day or he would not receive a good reference from him.

Mr Johnson said he resigned while being fearful of Mr Piccolo’s “power and influence” within the Labor Party and in need of a job while living out of home.

An Opposition spokesperson confirmed an independent investigation would take into the allegations.

“After being advised of this matter, the Leader of the Opposition took the appropriate step of referring the issue to the ALP’s established complaints process,” the spokesperson said.

This is the latest controversy in the Light electorate office after it emerged in June four internal complaints had been made following Freedom of Information applications lodged by the ABC.

At the time, Mr Piccolo told The Bunyip the nature of the complaints related to interpersonal relationship matters between staff.

Three out of the four complaints were made about another staff member in the office.

Mr Piccolo said the fourth complaint “does not relate directly to me either” but did not elaborate further.

Mr Piccolo denied there was a toxic culture in the Light electorate office but did not wish to comment further.

In his letter, Mr Johnson requested “a formal written apology from Tony for his bullying and harassment, as well as an apology for coercing me into a forced resignation”.

He told The Bunyip “something needed to change” in regard to bullying in political circles.