Townsville mayor’s A Current Affair tell-all exposes more business failings and attempted fraud charges

Townsville’s embattled mayor is facing fresh allegations of deception, conceding he misled voters about his education, business nous and military career. VOTE IN OUR POLL.

Townsville Mayor Troy Thompson delivering his address at the 2024 Anzac Day Dawn Service at Anzac Park, The Strand. Picture: Evan Morgan

Townsville’s embattled mayor is facing fresh allegations of deception, conceding he misled voters about his education, business nous and military career and blaming “100 plus” concussions for his poor memory.

Troy Thompson apologised to veterans for embellishing his military service, as first revealed by this publication in an explosive national television interview in which he disputed lying about his career, saying he “firmly believed” he had given the right information and back flipping on his promise to release the army records in full.

In the sit-down interview with A Current Affair aired on Thursday night, Mr Thompson also admitted he never finished university, despite claiming before the election he had two degrees and describing himself as a “business graduate”.

It was also alleged in the interview that he had previously been fined for two counts of ‘forgery uttering’ and attempted fraud in the Southport Magistrates Court in 2007.

First claiming he didn’t know anything about it, he later said the charges were over a credit application using a different surname. No conviction was recorded for the offences.

Queensland’s council integrity watchdog this week referred Mr Thompson to the Crime and Corruption Commission after questions arose about his military service.

Mr Thompson’s claims of spending five years in the army and SAS have been the subject of heavy scrutiny within the Garrison city, with the mayor telling reporters on Anzac Day he “forgot” his service number.

“Those who know me know that I’ve had multiple concussions, 100 plus, and I suffer from epilepsy,” he told the program.

“That’s not an excuse. But what it says is, you’re going to forget things from time to time.”

Asked if he lied, Mr Thompson claimed he “firmly believed” up until he received his service records that he’d served five years in the army and SAS.

His service record revealed he did not spend five years in the military as he told voters during the campaign, but less than six months undertaking entry-level training within the army reserves over two and a half years.’

The mayor also said he’d “had a rethink” on his prior promise to release his records to the public in full.

“I don’t want everybody to know when I polish my boots and clean my rifle and did all those things,” he said.

“Are you sorry?” the reporter asked Mr Thompson.

“Absolutely. Look, I apologise to all services as well as Veterans and Defence. And I think it’s important to put that out there because, you know, I respect the military.”

QUESTIONS RAISED ABOUT $9M DEBTS

Promising during his election campaign to reduce council debt, Mr Thompson told voters he was “a business graduate” and had years of experience running global companies.

“Tell us about your success in business,” the reporter began, with the mayor replying “I think I know where this is going to lead. So it’s interesting …”

Mr Thompson is listed in ASIC documents as being a director of a software company called iPro Solutions when it went bust in 2017, owing nearly $9 million.

One of the reasons the mayor was punted from One Nation in the 2020 elections was for failing to disclose his role as the company’s director before it was placed into the hands of administrators.

An insolvency report for the company states workers were owed a total of $236,000 in wages, superannuation, leave and redundancy entitlements.

The report also says Mr Thompson organised an “uncommercial transaction” by instructing the CEO to make a redundancy payment of $35,000 to Joanne Birnbrauer, Mr Thompson’s former wife and mother of his two children.

Mr Thompson conceded he made the payment to his ex-wife.

MAYOR REVEALS $1B BUDGET

“She in her own right, was an employee of the company,” he said in response to queries why he didn’t also make payments to the rest of the employees owed money.

The interviewer then turned to the mayor’s current task of overseeing the city’s budget, asking him: “you couldn’t manage almost $9 million, how can you be trusted to manage almost $900 million?”

“I’d say a billion dollars this year,” Mr Thompson replied.

“Yeah. It’s different. You know, it’s so different. This is something that I understand really well.”

Mr Thompson also addressed allegations published in the Townsville Bulletin this week that he lied to voters about having two university degrees.

Branding himself a “business graduate” during his election campaign, Mr Thompson now concedes that he “never completed” university.

Part of Troy Thompson's mayoral election campaign telling voters he was a "business graduate". He has now conceded he "didn't complete" his degrees.

A number of qualifications — including a Bachelor of Science, Occupational Safety and Health Technology with Curtin University and a Bachelor of Commerce, Accounting and Marketing via Griffith University — were swiftly removed from his LinkedIn profile once sworn into office.

“So I never completed them,” Mr Thompson said. “But I started them off. And then life changed. It was that simple.”

Asked if there were “any more skeletons we should know about”, Mr Thompson was unrattled.

“I hope not. But if there is I’ll own them. Absolutely.”

Originally published as Townsville mayor’s A Current Affair tell-all exposes more business failings and attempted fraud charges