Mount Gambier MP steps down amid guilty

verdicts

October 2025 Former South Australian MP Troy Bell, who was previously found guilty of serious fraud charges, is also facing a raft of deception allegations, it can be revealed. As reported by the ABC last week, a suppression order has been lifted in court and it can now be reported Bell is facing another 52 deception charges in relation to the alleged misuse of the Country Members Accommodation Allowance. It was alleged he collected more than $50,000 between 2015 and 2020 by deceiving staff at South Australia’s parliament -- who approved the payment of the allowance — “by falsely claiming he was entitled to be paid”. The former Mount Gambier MP has strongly denied these charges. A District Court jury last year found Bell guilty of 20 counts of theft and five counts of dishonest dealings with documents while working for the Department for Education. The suppression order on the allowance-related charges was in place to protect the integrity of the District Court trial. Last week, Troy Bell announced he would be stepping down as the Mount Gambier MP after the Court of Appeal dismissed his appeal against the jury’s guilty verdicts. He formally resigned from parliament on Tuesday. The charges relating to the Country Members Accommodation Allowance are expected to come before the Adelaide Magistrates Court again once Bell is sentenced in the District Court for the fraud offending next month. The allowance is a nightly payment available to regional MPs who need to be in the city overnight for work, and whose usual place of residence is more than 75 kilometres from Adelaide. The independent MP strongly denied the deception charges in 2021 and said he was aware “similar allegations” were levelled against other country MPs, “some of whom have since admitted to incorrectly claiming travel allowances”.

Greek Tribune Adelaide, South Australia