MP Fraser Ellis wants Liberal Party to endorse him at next State Election after court ruled he will not stand trial over alleged allowance rorting until June, 2022

A former Liberal MP accused of rorting wants to contest the next election as a Liberal candidate after a court today ruled he would not stand trial until after the 2022 poll.

A former Liberal MP Fraser Ellis wants the backing of his former party at the March state election because his trial on deception charges has been delayed until June.

The Narungga MP said he must be presumed innocent and warned he would run as an independent if the Liberal Party refused to endorse him for his Yorke Peninsula seat.

“Given I am presumed innocent, I hope that the party will confirm my endorsement and allow me to stand as a Liberal candidate at the election,” he said.

“If the Liberal Party, despite the presumption of innocence, and despite my record in achieving outcomes for the people of Narungga, and despite the overwhelming support that I have received from my community, choose to remove my endorsement, then I will nominate as an independent candidate and seek the support of my community directly.”

Liberal Party state director Sascha Meldrum said the state executive had not made a decision on its candidate for the seat of Narungga.

On Wednesday, the Adelaide Magistrates Court agreed to vacate Mr Ellis’s trial on 23 counts of deception, which had been scheduled for November.

The charges, laid following an ICAC investigation, sparked the backbencher’s resignation from the Liberal Party and plunged the State Government into minority.

Anthony Allen SC, for Mr Ellis told the court there was little point hearing their client’s case until after the nation’s highest court had ruled on the controversy surrounding fellow Independent MP and former Liberal Troy Bell.

Mr Bell wants his case permanently stayed, challenging the legality of tactics ICAC used to investigate him for alleged dishonesty offences – Mr Ellis’ counsel said their client’s trial would canvass similar issues.

Ryan Williams, prosecuting, said he considered rulings against Mr Bell to “be good law” but did not oppose vacating Mr Ellis’ trial.

MP Fraser Ellis is seen outside the Adelaide magistrates court in May. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Mariuz

However, he said care must be exercised when deciding which magistrate would hear the trial.

“It’s important that whomever hears this trial has no affiliation with any of the major political parties,” he said.

“They must also have had no affiliation with any of the major political parties in the past, given the politically sensitive nature of the allegations.”

Mr Ellis, whose electorate is in the Yorke Peninsula, has yet to formally enter pleas to the charges but has publicly maintained his innocence.

In February, he stood up in Parliament and announced he had been charged - hours later, ICAC Commissioner Ann Vanstone released a statement confirming the prosecution.

Mr Ellis is alleged to have made 78 fraudulent claims for the Country Members Accommodation Allowance, totalling more than $18,000, between May and June 2020.

He was excused from attending court on Wednesday.

Mr Ellis was the third Liberal MP to leave the party after being charged with criminal offending.

Mr Bell was another of those MPs - he has pleaded not guilty to skimming hundreds of thousands of dollars from an education organisation in the South East over a period of years.

While he failed to secure a stay of his trial, the District Court ruled ICAC’s method of referring prosecutions straight to the DPP, bypassing police, was unlawful.

That decision was overturned on appeal, prompting Mr Bell’s petition to the High Court.

On Wednesday, Anthony Allen SC, for Mr Ellis, said the High Court would hear that challenge sometime between December and February next year.

“The matters to be considered by the High Court are relevant to (Mr Ellis’) proceedings,” he said.

“The interpretation of the ICAC Act is something that will occupy the focus of the High Court... it’s appropriate that be brought to account before this trial is listed.

“Some guidance from the High Court will resolve any potential issues that might arise in these proceedings.”

Magistrate Christopher Smolicz agreed, remanding Mr Ellis on continuing bail to face trial on June 14, 2022.

Meanwhile, during extraordinary scenes in State Parliament on Tuesday night, five of the six independents supported an Opposition move to establish a select committee to investigate whether Attorney-General Vickie Chapman had a conflict of interest.

Mr Ellis abstained from the vote, saying he wanted “absolutely no part of the shenanigans that took place in parliament today”.