Ipswich councillor Paul Tully is resisting calls to resign and has defended a lavish overseas trip taken on ratepayer dollar in 2012. 

A Right to Information request by Nine News revealed Mr Tully, then-mayor Paul Pisasale and two senior colleagues racked up “excessive” travel bills totalling more than $170,000.

Speaking to reporters yesterday, Mr Tully claimed he had not seen the RTI documents but insisted he had done “nothing wrong”.

Paul Tully held a press conference today (Nine News not invited).

In it he brought up the time police questioned me at a Bunnings store after I filmed their interaction with two shoppers.

“He’s got his own issues from 2016 when he was working with the ABC,” he said.

— Josh Bavas (@JoshBavas) July 19, 2022

“Artie Fadden, when he was the prime minister of Australia said, ‘Never complain, never explain and never resign’, and Artie Fadden had it right,” he said.

“I have spent 41 years trying to represent this community and I stand by my record.”

Mr Tully maintains the trip to Europe and the UAE was concerning “economic development issues for the City of Ipswich”.