Queensland MP re-apologises for comments about Muslims and women after posts resurface online
A Queensland Coalition MP has again unearthed derogatory comments he made about women and Muslims nearly a decade ago, saying he refuses to let “cancel culture” weaponise mistakes he has been open and honest about.
A Queensland Coalition MP has again unearthed derogatory comments he made about women and Muslims nearly a decade ago, saying he refuses to let “cancel culture” weaponise mistakes he has been open and honest about.
Herbert MP Phillip Thompson, an ex-serviceman and former Queensland Young Australian of the Year, outed himself during the 2019 federal election campaign as the author of comments on social media in 2012 threatening to harm Muslims.
At the time he said it was “important” to him that the voters of Townsville understood who he was “warts and all”.
“I have made mistakes, but I will always own them and work hard to do better,” Mr Thompson said at the time.
Mr Thompson, who has spoken candidly about his war-induced traumatic brain injury and battle with post traumatic stress disorder, has been vocal on Defence and veteran issues, and last week weighed in on the furore around a performance by a dance troupe at the launch of the Australian Navy’s newest ship.
His comments, that Defence had lurched “too far to the left” and had gone “a little bit too woke”, courted backlash from some on social media, including one user who questioned if he deserved an opinion.
The user pointed out Mr Thompson had once authored posts about “Townsville women, and Muslim people” that were “deranged, misogynistic, and violently direct hate towards another culture”.
Two posts that Mr Thompson made in 2012 were used to back up the comments.
In one, Mr Thompson said “give me an M4 and send to Sydney and I’ll do the dishes (sic)”, implying violence toward Muslims.
In another he posted a photo of woman sitting on a bed of a room decorated by used condoms and pictures of men, captioning it “Townsville girls”, implying shameful promiscuity.
Mr Thompson, in a social media video, said his old posts were being “weaponised because of a difference of an opinion”.
“I’m not proud of some of the things I’ve said, done, nearly a decade ago, but I’ve not once ever tried to hide from the mistakes that I’ve made,” he said.
“I’ve always been open, honest and transparent.
“I will not live in fear, that mistakes that I’ve made nearly a decade ago will be regurgitated time and time again.”
Mr Thompson approached his local newspaper in 2019 with the Facebook posts he had made. At the time, only the derogatory comments toward Muslims were published.
The Courier-Mail can confirm that Mr Thompson did disclose the misogynistic post about Townsville women at the time.
When he first came forward with the posts in 2019, Mr Thompson explained that the comments he made in September 2012 on his private Facebook account were in response to violent protests in Sydney triggered by a US film, Innocence of Muslims, which portrayed the prophet Mohammed as a womaniser and paedophile.
His comments were subsequently leaked to the media but he was not named at the time.
The comments were the subject of a Department of Defence investigation but Mr Thompson did not face disciplinary action as he had medically discharged from the Australia Army after he received injuries when an explosive device detonated in Afghanistan in 2009.
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