Mayor vows to fight corruption allegations
Embattled Townsville Mayor Troy Thompson has vowed to fight all allegations against him after he was stood down.
A mayor believes the Queensland government’s decision to remove him sets a dangerous precedent for councils after he was accused of misleading voters about his army service.
Townsville Mayor Troy Thompson was stood down for 12 months on full pay of $225,206 by the newly minted Local Government Minister Ann Leahy after ongoing controversy at the north Queensland council.
He is unable to perform any of the duties of a councillor or mayor during this time.
Thompson said he was disappointed in the decision and rejected the allegations of corruption levelled against him, vowing to continue fighting to clear his name,
“This has set a precedent for councillors across Queensland, that the state government may suspend a democratically elected member without a proper judicial process taking place,” he said in a statement on Facebook on Friday.
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“Once the 12-month suspension is completed and I am cleared of all allegations, I look forward to returning to the role of mayor, as democratically elected by the people of Townsville.”
He promised to study “local laws, the act, meeting procedures and policies” during his suspension.
Thompson is being investigated by the state’s corruption watchdog over matters including claims during his 2024 mayoral campaign that he served five years in the army.
He later conceded on Nine Network’s A Current Affair that he had misled voters about his military record, blaming “100-plus” concussions.
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It sparked a unanimous no-confidence council vote in Townsville, the country’s biggest garrison city boasting more than 15,000 Australian Defence Force personnel.
Thompson has since resisted calls to stand down amid ongoing issues with colleagues.
The state’s former Labor government issued a show cause notice in one of its final acts before going into caretaker mode ahead of the state election.
Opposition Leader Steven Miles said he was “glad sanity prevailed” and the LNP government agreed to stand down the embattled mayor.
“Townsville is just too important to Queensland for its council to go on paralysed,” he said in a statement.
“That’s why we started the show cause process and loaded the gun ready for the LNP to finally pull the trigger on Troy Thompson.”
Deputy Mayor Paul Jacob will take over the top job while Thompson is stood down.
