The newly elected mayor of Townsville has been referred to Queensland’s corruption watchdog amid growing controversy over his military history.
During his campaign, Troy Thompson claimed he spent five years in the army but questions are being raised over whether that is true.
Before the March council elections, Thompson wrote about his army service in a now-deleted Facebook post and made a claim in an interview with a man called Batty from the North Queensland Freedom Network.
“I spent five years in the military in Perth so I was in signals, in Swanbourne, in Karrakatta, Fremantle and SAS Swanbourne,” Thompson said.
But questions were raised about whether those claims had been exaggerated to impress voters in the military city.
Thompson released his service number in a video to try to put the issue to bed.
“You’ve now got my service number, that ends the conversation,” Thompson said.
However records allegedly showed he did not spend five years in the army as claimed but that he did complete a two-week recruit course and an army reservist cooking course over six months in 1991.
The matter is in the hands of the Crime and Corruption Commission, which has declined to comment.
Thompson denies wrongdoing and will remain the Mayor of Townsville unless he is charged or convicted.
If that happens, the state local government minister will have the power to either suspend or fire him.