Townsville’s embattled mayor says he has formally challenged the Queensland government’s intention to remove him from office amid ongoing controversy.
Troy Thompson was issued a show cause notice three weeks ago by Local Government Minister Meaghan Scanlon, just hours before parliament was dissolved ahead of the state election.
It set out the government’s plan to suspend him for 12 months in the public interest.
Premier Steven Miles said he had become increasingly concerned the first-term mayor was unable to work effectively with his councillors and community leaders.
Cr Thompson said he submitted his response to the show cause notice on Monday, just before the deadline.
He said his 23-page defence included “35 documents of evidence” and a nine-page timeline of events.
“This submission is a very small part of what may be tendered to court at a future date,” Cr Thompson said in a statement.
Troy Thompson is fighting a push to have him removed from office. (ABC News: Lily Nothling)
Prepared to fight
The mayor has been under investigation by the Crime and Crime Commission (CCC) since May for misleading voters about his military, business and education credentials.
He has repeatedly resisted calls to stand down, including from his own councillors who unanimously moved a motion of no-confidence against him in June.
Cr Thompson said he had been the target of discrimination, bullying and intimidation during his time as mayor.
He said being ousted from office by the state government would set a dangerous precedent for other councils.
“Without proper judicial process, which the CCC are completing, it could be ‘alleged’ this is only politically motivated during an election caretaker period,” he said.
“As the democratically elected mayor of Townsville, I will not be stepping down, and I have not been asked to do so.
“Should I be suspended by the minister, I will respect her decision at this time, but I will challenge this and look to a high court injunction if required.”
Queensland premier Steven Miles says Mayor Troy Thompson is bad for Townsville. (ABC News: Georgia Loney)
Premier Steven Miles said the government looked forward to reading Cr Thompson’s response.
“I’ve been pretty strong on this issue from day one,” Mr Miles said.
“I’ve said that him being in that role is bad for Townsville, and what’s bad for Townsville is bad for Queensland.
“We’re really frustrated about how work has stalled on a range of projects that run across multiple levels of government ever since the mayoralty changed.”
Mr Miles said negotiations could be made with the state opposition to remove Cr Thompson during the caretaker period.
Otherwise, the matter will wait until after the Queensland state election on October 26.
A spokesperson for the Department of Local Government said it would be inappropriate to comment while the process was ongoing.
Earlier this month, a special advisor was appointed to the Townsville City Council to get the chamber back on track after months of tension.
