Troy Thompson: Friend says councillor likely mystery guest on conspiracy show

Questions have been raised about the identity of a secret guest on a conservative social-media show who came out in support of besieged Townsville City Councillor Troy Thompson.

Councillor Troy Thompson, who is taking a leave of absence from his role as Townsville mayor, enjoying a meal at Hog's Breath Cafe in a recent post on his official Mayor Troy Thompson Facebook page.

Questions have been raised about the identity of a secret guest on a conservative social-media show who came out in support of besieged Townsville City Councillor Troy Thompson.

Mark Batt, the host of the fringe North Queensland Freedom Network, introduced mystery guest Blackboard on his Friday night show to discuss what he claimed was the successful Labor-led coup d’état to oust Mr Thompson as Mayor.

Blackboard, using an electronically altered voice, claimed to be a non-political outside observer “who has been watching what’s been going on from a very, very independent perspective … especially with the mayoral things that are happening here in Townsville”.

During the lengthy, wide-ranging and rambling interview, Mr Batt, also known as Batty, stumbled at the 30-minute mark by potentially outing Blackboard’s real identity.

“Sorry, I went on a huge rant there, would you like to interject something there Trr … ummm, Blackboard.”

Councillor Troy Thompson's most recent post on his official Mayor Troy Thompson Facebook page on Thursday.

A former friend of Mr Thompson’s said Blackboard was clearly the mayor, saying he was backed by the “unanimous consensus of my friends from Kirwan High Class of 1988”.

“I never led anyone to that, only sent them the video link with a request to watch and give me feedback,” he said.

“They’ve all spontaneously reached that conclusion themselves based on poor voice modulation, speech and turns of phrase, and of course, Batty’s slip up.”

Mr Batt has been contacted for comment.

The Townsville City Council passes a motion of no confidence in then Mayor Troy Thompson, who has taken a leave of absence from the role citing health concerns. Picture: Evan Morgan

Mr Thompson has previously used secret identities on online Townsville discussion forums.

In the initial part of the interview, Blackboard labelled all politicians hypocrites and liars before claiming that elected officials were protected under “international law”.

“International law protects all of these people … immunity from prosecution under international law,” he said.

“These people have certain immunities, especially when they officiate these positions that they’re in … Troy’s got across the line and he’s taken the mayoralship, those immunities should be afforded to him as well.”

Blackboard said corruption and collusion were widespread in the political sphere, which protected itself by using the laws in question.

“You people (politicians) can have these things afforded to you and say what you want and get away with all these other things, you can at least afford it to the other people who take these official positions in the public interest,” he said.

“And don’t be too hard unless you want to be hard on yourself.”

Happier times. Troy Thompson at the investiture of newly elected Townsville City Councillors at the council chambers. Picture: Evan Morgan

During the more than four-hour program, Mr Batt also took aim at the Townsville Bulletin’s reporting of Mr Thompson’s self-confessed domestic violence “issue”.

“Any bloke in the world will tell you these days that all you need to do is fart near a woman and you’ll have a DV charge on you,” he said.

Blackboard side-stepped the issue although Mr Batt pushed on, asking why the Bulletin was making a “mountain out of this bulls*** molehill” given “no convictions were recorded”.

The Bulletin has seen a document that reveal Mr Thompson has faced court on two separate occasions over domestic violence matters. No convictions were recorded in both cases.

Mr Thompson, on his official Mayor Troy Thompson Facebook page, says he has taken a leave of absence from his role due to health reasons and to allow the completion of the investigations by the Crime and Corruption Commission Queensland (CCC) and Office of the Independent Assessor.

He has been accused of embellishing the length and extent of his service in the Australian Defence Forces as well as allegedly making false claims about his university qualifications.

Mr Thompson has placed a self-imposed ban on talking to the Townsville Bulletin and recently refused to comment on his history, citing the ongoing CCC investigation, but has appeared in a train-wreck interview on A Current Affair.

Originally published as Troy Thompson: Friend says councillor likely mystery guest on conspiracy show