Councillor Ann-Maree Greaney has been elected to lead the Townsville local government area, after months of political instability in the north Queensland regional city.
She is Townsville City’s third Mayor in as many weeks, after Councillor Troy Thompson, who was elected as Mayor in March this year, was suspended at the end of November, amid a Crime and Corruption Commission investigation.
Cr Thompson is alleged to have misled Townsville voters in the council election earlier this year, reportedly inflating his time served in the military, as well as allegedly overstating his business and education credentials.
An investigation into his conduct was launched in May this year, and on November 21, Queensland Local Government Minister Ann Leahy announced Cr Thompson would be suspended as Mayor of Townsville for 12 months.
“This result is a win for the residents of Townsville who deserve stability and a functioning local government,” Minister Leahy said at the time.
Cr Thompson’s deputy, Councillor Paul Jacob, stepped up as acting Mayor upon his suspension, but last week, Cr Greaney announced she would be challenging Cr Jacob for the position.
Townsville Council held a special meeting on Wednesday to subsequently elect a new deputy, and therefore a new acting Mayor. Cr Greaney ran unopposed for the position and ultimately won.
“Townsville needs stability,” acting Mayor Greaney told reporters, “and we need to move forward and 2025 is going to be that year.
“The last seven months have proven to be quite a tumultuous time for council and I’m looking forward to leading with stability.”
Former acting Mayor Cr Jacob and Councillor Vera Dirou voted against Cr Greaney’s promotion, with Cr Jacob claiming the political spill “destroys the trust with councillors and the community”.
Meanwhile, Cr Troy Thompson will be suspended for the next 12 months on full pay.
In the lead up to the 2024 election in March, Cr Thompson told voters he served in the Royal Australian Corps of Signals and the Special Air Service (SAS) Regiment for about five years.
In April, Townsville Bulletin, a News Corp publication, accused the newly elected mayor of misinforming voters, as Cr Thompson told the newspaper he could not recall what his service number was.
He ultimately provided his service number to the Office of the Independent Assessor (OIA) who was investigating the mayor for details of his service with the Australian Defence Force. However, in an interview with Nine’s A Current Affair program, he apologised for inflating his service history during his election campaign, citing poor memory due to concussions.
Cr Ann-Maree Greaney is just the second woman Mayor of Townsville in the city’s history, since 1866. Former Mayor Jenny Hill was first elected to lead the city in 2012, and re-elected in 2016. She lost re-election for a third term to Cr Troy Thompson in March 2024.
About a third of Queensland mayors are women: out of Queensland’s 77 local government areas, 26 are led by women mayors, including Cr Greaney.