Townsville city council has passed a unanimous vote of no-confidence in embattled mayor Troy Thompson, calling on him to resign after he made false claims about his military service.
Thompson was absent from the chambers on Wednesday morning as the council held a symbolic vote and called for him to step aside from his role.
Councillor Brodie Phillips brought the no-confidence motion, which requested the mayor resign and for the council to remove Thompson as the council’s representative on all bodies, committees and boards, where legally possible to do so.
The motion also requested the council chief executive write to the head of Queensland’s department of local government and recommend minister Meaghan Scanlon either suspend the mayor “pending the outcome of relevant investigations into his conduct” or dismiss him if “the information which is publicly available ... is sufficient.”
In an interview with A Current Affair last week, Thompson conceded he had not spent five years in the military, as he claimed during his election campaign, and blamed “100-plus” concussions and epilepsy on his poor recollection.
He also apologised to veterans and the defence force for embellishing his military service – including claims he spent time with the SAS in Swanbourne and had served at 105 signals and 152 signals.
Thompson’s claims about military service history are now being investigated by the state’s Crime and Corruption Commission and the Office of the Independent Assessor.
The council livestream crashed on Wednesday morning after the site was overloaded with traffic.
The deputy mayor, Paul Jacob, said the mayor had lost his support.
“I will be voting for the motion but … I want to stress to all councillors that this should not … be set as precedent in the future whilst the councillor in question is currently being investigated by the CCC and the Office of the Independent Assessor.”
Councillor Vera Dirou said as a spouse of a veteran she was “concerned about reputational damage, not only within our garrison city, but also throughout the nation”.
Councillor Andrew Robinson said integrity was the most important quality for a representative of the city to possess.
“I leave you with the following words of Albert Einstein: whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted in important affairs.”
Labor and the LNP were united on Wednesday in their calls for the mayor to resign.
The Queensland premier, Steven Miles, called on Thompson to do “the right thing” and stand down.
“It’s just too important for the council to have to limp onwards with an absent mayor, a mayor that doesn’t have the confidence of the council or the city,” Miles said.
The opposition leader, David Crisafulli, said Thompson’s position was “untenable and … the vast majority of people in Townsville agree”.
“The best thing would be for him to step aside. That would give the city the confidence and the clarity that it needs.”
The former One Nation candidate has dismissed the calls, writing in a Facebook post on Friday that he had “no intention to step aside as some of the naysayers would like”.
Thompson claimed he was the victim of a political witch hunt and said “due process should always take precedence over media play, and not political interference”.
“I call on all correspondence from all local, state and ministerial staff to be investigated and, if conflict is found, TCC council is dissolved in its entirety, and all positions compromised should be put up for re-election, the witch hunt should stop until there is a real outcome by the CCC.”
In another post Thompson claimed “ALP party politics” was “at play and the community need to send a message to those members.”
Councillor Brady Ellis told reporters on Wednesday that as an “independent councillor and member of the LNP” Thompson’s claims about the Labor party “infiltrating the council” were false.
“I’m sure by now you’ve heard the troubling allegations that the Australian Labor party has infiltrated our councils and is coercing councillors to oppose the mayor, Troy Thompson,” he said. “Honestly, I take this as a personal insult to my integrity and [the] integrity of my nine fellow councillors.”
Scanlon told Guardian Australia it was important “that Queenslanders have confidence in their local government representatives”.
“We are continuing to monitor this situation but the CCC is the appropriate entity to investigate these matters,” she said.
“I will consider any options that may be available to me once the outcomes of this investigation are known.”
