HANSON MAN WANTS UNITY
ONE Nation candidate Troy Thompson has revealed his motives for pursuing politics ahead of Pauline Hanson’s visit to Townsville.
Mr Thompson, who is running in the seat of Thuringowa, is expected to announce his first policy plan alongside Ms Hanson on Friday.
A Kirwan resident from 1976, Mr Thompson said he returned to his home city to provide palliative care for his father after decades working overseas and was shocked to see the community divided and “rife with racial tension”. Mr Thompson said after heading up IT companies in Germany, Brisbane and South Africa, he wanted to turn his attention to community projects and took on the role of chairman of community at ASA Inc, a not for profit focused on community hubs delivering cultural, health, education, sport, and social programs. Its most recent proposal was for a redevelopment of Illich Park, Aitkenvale. “I’ve done the corporate job and been a CEO of a big global company and I wanted a change and what disappointed me in Townsville was a clear separation in community with particularly government,” he said.
“A lot of things aren’t being addressed so what I’m trying to do is connect people because there’s a lot of people working really hard but we’re not actually getting outcomes and we’re spending a lot of money.”
Mr Thompson said there was a lot of government funding being “thrown at notfor profits” with little to no outcomes shown, citing Townsville’s high crime rate and youth offending as proof.
“I remember working in Germany and advising on Bayern Munich (on a community engagement program) and there’s a lot of multiculturalism over there and poverty so I tried to bring what they were doing really well into Townsville,” he said.
“It’s about getting all of these not for profits working under one roof, there’s a lot of racial unrest in Townsville and one big problem as a non-indigenous person coming back here, I wasn’t as educated in culture and we have to learn and educate ourselves on that process.”
Initially in talks to run for the LNP, Mr Thompson said he also had conversations with the Katter Party but decided on One Nation because it was “neither right nor left leaning” and he considered his political position “smack down the middle”.
“A lot of people say to me: ‘Oh Pauline Hanson, she’s racist.’ But it’s because she’s raised issues, and she’s absolutely not – One Nation means one community.”