00:00After years of fighting for his political career,
00:05South Australian MP Troy Bell announced his resignation.
00:10I'll be standing down as a member for Mount Gambier
00:13and I'll inform the parliament of that in the next coming days.
00:17The jury was told Bell stole more than $430,000
00:23from not-for-profit educational organisations
00:26he ran between 2009 and 2013.
00:31Facing jail time and expulsion from the South Australian Parliament,
00:35Bell tried to have the verdicts quashed.
00:38We just met with our legal team and the appeal will be filed.
00:42But South Australia's highest court ruled against him
00:46in what he acknowledged was a blow to his career.
00:49That might be an understatement, I guess.
00:52It's been a long journey and I'm tired.
00:55I think my family are tired.
00:57Perhaps the community are tired as well.
01:00So, yeah, it's a disappointing day.
01:04Community members divided over the news.
01:08Troy is my unwavering support.
01:10None of us believed it for a long time.
01:13So there's a lot of hurt and disappointment.
01:15Political leaders focused on the community he's represented since 2014.
01:22It's been a very disappointing day for the people of Mount Gambier.
01:25What I would say is that the people of Mount Gambier,
01:28they've been through a lot.
01:29That is a decision that we would welcome
01:32because it provides a bit of certainty for the community of Mount Gambier.
01:37The question of a by-election still in the air.
01:40Presumably the Electoral Commissioner will provide advice to the Speaker at some point
01:46around a potential by-election.
01:48Bell said he's yet to rule out any other avenues for appeal
01:52and will be spending some time with his legal team
01:56going through the court's judgement in the coming days.
01:59A date for his sentence is yet to be set.
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