Councillors weigh in on Townsville City Council’s leadership spill

A Townsville City Councillor who will defend the acting mayor in a leadership challenge said he would step forward instead if necessary.

Councillor Andrew Robinson said he would be backing Acting Mayor Paul Jacob in a leadership challenge next week, believing the council should allow him to finish his 12 month term. Picture: Shae Beplate.

Townsville councillor Andrew Robinson says he will run against Ann-Maree Greaney for the acting mayor position if it comes to it, but says he won’t ‘climb over dead bodies’ to get to the top.

The Division 8 councillor believed the council should honour its “agreement” for Mr Jacob to complete his 12-month term until April, and believed a push for a special council meeting next week was poorly timed.

He would vote to allow Mr Jacob to complete his term, but if Mr Jacob declined the role or was defeated then Mr Robinson would step forward as a substitute candidate to take on Ms Greaney, who had previously ran in ex-mayor Jenny Hill’s election campaign.

“Primarily, because I feel that the feeling from people is, rightly or wrongly, they believe Team Hill still exists and they voted quite clearly at the polls they didn’t want that,” Mr Robinson said.

Ms Greaney has dismissed the suggestion that there is any Team Hill or Labor influence still being felt in Walker Street, a feeling echoed by LNP member and councillor Brady Ellis.

Townsville councillor Ann-Maree Greaney will nominate herself for the acting mayor position in the chamber. Picture: Evan Morgan

Mr Robinson conceded that anyone who became mayor following the vote would likely be branded as an opportunist.

“If Paul does get shoved out of the way and then I put my hand up, am I going to be perceived the same, and the answer is probably yes, so hence the reason why I’m happy I’m not the person.

“I’m not going to climb over dead bodies to try and rise to the top, my ambitions in life are not to be the mayor of the city.”

Acting Mayor Paul Jacob chairs a Townsville City Council meeting. Picture: Evan Morgan

But one of the two councillors who pushed for the special council meeting for Tuesday, December 17, explained his reasoning for bringing the vote forward, believing “the timing seems right”.

Division 2 councillor Brodie Phillips conceded “the city is hurting” following a chaotic eight months between suspended mayor Troy Thompson and the rest of the councillors, while a clean sweep within the council’s executive team also required the recruitment of a chief executive officer.

The former Labor government had appointed a state adviser to monitor the council shortly before Mr Thompson was suspended for 12 months with full pay.

Councillor Brodie Phillips was one of the councillors who sought a special council meeting, believing the end of the year was a good time to consider its acting mayor role. Picture: Shae Beplate.

Mr Phillips said his decision was not a personal one against Mr Jacob, but he said the needs and dynamics of the city had changed greatly since the council was sworn-in.

The council had to capitalise on the looming federal election which is likely to be held in May, and the best time to do that was during the Christmas break so the council could start afresh after a tense year.

“I wouldn’t necessarily call it a leadership spill,” Mr Phillips said.

Mayor Troy Thompson at the Townsville City Council general meeting. Mr Thompson has been suspended on pay for 12 months which the CCC investigates him. Picture: Shae Beplate.

“The person that’s going to sit in the role is taking up, technically, three roles, it is going to be a big task.

“And as councillors, as we’ve done all this year, we will get behind that person and help support them where we can, they’re going to have a big job ahead.

“The person that sits in that role needs to go from sun up to beyond sundown seven days a week.

“We know the city’s hurting, council’s hurting, and we’ve got a lot of work to do to repair that.”

Troy Thompson was suspended for 12 months on pay while the Crime and Corruption Commission investigates misconduct complaints against him, and following months of chaos in the council chamber after all councillors declared a vote of no confidence in his performance.

Mr Thompson was voted in as mayor in March on the back of a wave of anti-incumbency that saw Jenny Hill lose office.

He quickly endorsed Mr Jacob, also a Labor member, of being his preferred option for deputy.

While Ms Greaney had the potential to take the majority of the 10 votes, Mr Jacob as acting mayor and council chairman could veto if the vote was evenly split, while attendance the week before Christmas could also affect the outcome.

Originally published as Councillors weigh in on Townsville City Council’s leadership spill