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  • 3 months ago
South Australian Independent MP Troy Bell is quitting parliament after losing an appeal to overturn convictions for stealing more than $400,000 from not-for-profit educational organisations he headed. While Bell waits to learn if he'll be jailed for his offending, voters in his southeast seat are also yet to hear whether they'll go to the polls for a by-election before the state election in March.

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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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