Meet the man who will help shape Mackay
Mackay’s CEO gained the job less than a year after his high-profile dismissal in the NT. But he believes his experience will shape his leadership.
Mackay
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A COMPLEX history, both professional and personal, will shape how Michael Thomson approaches his new role as the region's most powerful bureaucrat.
Mackay Regional Council's new chief executive officer was selected at the city's August meeting, less than a year after his high-profile sacking from the Northern Territory's Power and Water Corporation.
The territory's Chief Minister Michael Gunner fired Mr Thomson, along with Territory Generation CEO Tim Duignan, in response to an "unacceptable" nine-hour blackout in Alice Springs in October 2019.
An independent report into the "system black", which hit 12,000 customers, found a mix of human error and equipment failure caused the major power outage.
Mr Thomson said the remote town and the NT as a whole had a long history of power issues that predated his time as the CEO of the utilities company.
"When I walked in to (Power and Water) the previous treasurer was calling it a 'basket case'," Mr Thomson said.
"I don't necessarily agree with everything in the report … I wasn't asked or interviewed for it.
"But Alice did go black.
"At the end of the day, Tim (Duignan), who was the CEO of the generator down there, and myself were accountable.
"Unfortunately the journey ended there."
Power cuts homes, but no rain damage
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Despite the very public dismissal, Mr Thomson said he was proud of his four years in the job.
"You look at the journey and what's been achieved along the way, and I'm quite proud about that," Mr Thomson said.
Mr Thomson said he would use the lessons learned in the NT in his new Mackay job.
"The main thing in the job for Mackay for me is to make sure we're constantly consulting with the community," he said.
"That we are spending money the right way, efficiently and prudently.
"And also that we get that long range vision with the councillors."
Mr Thomson said his time in the NT had also taught him how to walk the tightrope between commercial imperatives and community concerns.
"I see that as a halfway to this role," he said.
He said this would be essential as he took on his first job in local government, after a lifetime in the commercial sector.
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Mr Thomson said Mackay was in a solid financial position, despite a deficit from COVID he said could last many years.
"It was heading for a surplus and I think it's right that council has been prepared to waive fees and charges and taken the initiative … even if it's turned into a deficit as a result."
Mr Thomson said a return to a small surplus was dependant on Mackay businesses recovering from both coronavirus and the recession.
He said he could empathise with how the pandemic was impacting the community, as his eight-year-old daughter Tara was cut off from a Melbourne-based clinical medical trial.
He said Tara, who has dwarfism, had influenced the family's decision to move to Mackay.
"When she was born she was in NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) for a long, long time," he said.
"She had to be resuscitated many times.
"She also had heart surgery a couple of years ago.
"That's been our life, constant issues."
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He said he was stressed that she would not be able to access the drug trial, but relieved the family was moving to a regional centre where her ongoing medical needs would be met.
"After the initial part (of the trial) she could go elsewhere and be near major hospitals," he said.
He said while calling his family, who were still on the Sunshine Coast, he heard Tara celebrate after getting help from the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
"She said to mum 'I'm so lucky I have got a mobility scooter. I'm so lucky for all these hearing aids'," he said.
"And that sort of puts it into perspective when she feels that way."
Mr Thomson said his partner and three children, Mikaylia, 14, Jay, 13, and Tara, would not move to Mackay until the start of the new school year.
"It's hard (to be away from them) but through my career we've not always been living together as a family," Mr Thomson said.
"We're a little bit used to it."
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