Liberal-turned-independent MP Troy Bell has penned a scathing letter to his former party days out from the SA state election, refusing to guarantee support in the event of a hung parliament and telling Premier Steven Marshall the "clock is ticking" to match Labor spending in his seat.
The Mount Gambier MP also accused the Premier of having "underestimated" his intelligence, if Mr Marshall is counting on his backing should no clear winner emerge from Saturday's poll.
Mr Bell, who was elected as the member for Mount Gambier in 2014, resigned from the Liberal Party in 2017 after being charged with stealing a substantial amount of taxpayers' money, but retained his seat as an independent at the 2018 state election.
He has pleaded not guilty to misappropriating $2 million in public funds while working for an independent learning centre before he entered parliament, and a last-ditch attempt to stop the matter going to trial is due to go before the High Court later today.
The Mount Gambier MP is also seeking to defend separate charges of making more than $54,000 in false claims for a taxpayer-funded accommodation allowance paid to country MPs.
In what Mr Bell described as an "open note" to his former colleagues, he accused the government of committing a "paltry" $2.7 million to his seat, compared to Labor commitments totalling $100 million.
"If you think a $2.7 million election commitment is going to cut it for the state's second largest city, then I think you have underestimated the intelligence of my community," he wrote.
While the SA government yesterday ruled out further big funding announcements, Mr Bell challenged Mr Marshall to "commit seriously to our great community".
"You could at least match the Labor Party's commitment to Mount Gambier of $24 million for the Mount Gambier Hospital, $35 million for trade training, $25 million for forestry, $7.4 million for additional paramedics, $3.5 million for drug and alcohol services as well as the $2 million for a cross border commissioner," Mr Bell wrote.
"Come on Steven, the clock is ticking. Tick, Tock."
Premier defends regional spending record
Mr Marshall hit back, defending what he said was "record investments in country roads, hospitals and schools" under his government.
"If we take a look down in the seat of Mount Gambier, currently there's a $250 million commitment to upgrading the Princes Highway from Tailem Bend all the way through to the border with Victoria.
"We've had upgrades and expansions of our capacity within the Mount Gambier hospital. We've had upgrades to the Grant High, to the Gambier High, to Reidy Park Primary School."
Appearing on ABC Radio Adelaide this morning, Mr Bell subsequently denied the letter was an attempt to distract attention from his legal battle, saying that matter was "totally separate".
Mr Bell said he had supplied an electoral wishlist to both parties in August, and again warned the Liberals not to count on his support should it be needed to form government.
"Either one of two things [is] happening," Mr Bell told ABC Radio Adelaide.
"One, their [Liberal] polling is really good and they're saying, 'Well, we don't need to commit to the seat of Mount Gambier because we're going to win more than 24 seats and any commitment we make before the election we'll have to honour afterwards'.
"Or they are saying, 'We'll just come down to Mount Gambier after the election if we need the seat and Troy will just come back to the Liberal Party and we'll just match whatever Labor has put on the table.'"
While Mr Bell did not rule out an eventual rapprochement with the Liberal Party, he said he did not regard Labor's commitments "as pork-barrelling" but as key investments.
"The state Labor Party are showing their hand, they're saying that they're backing my region, and of course that will be front of mind in any discussions going forward," he said.
Labor leader Peter Malinauskas said he was not surprised that Mount Gambier's "local community is frustrated".
"It's got a growing economy, it's got an extraordinary amount of opportunity around its abundant natural resources, and the highly productive nature of its labour force," he said.
"But it has issues confronting its health system as well."
In response, Mr Marshall said his government had worked to "fix the mess of Transforming Health" and accused Labor of "promising anything to anybody".
"We are not going to go around with blank cheques [in] every single electorate in the state," he said.
Asked whether Mr Marshall should head to Mount Gambier for discussions with Mr Bell, Health Minister Stephen Wade said that was a "matter for the leadership" of the party.
