Opposition slams Steven Miles’s elevation to deputy premier

Health Minister Steven Miles has pocketed an extra $25,000 with his elevation to deputy premier – but the Opposition says in the real world his pay would be cut.

THE elevation of Health Minister Steven Miles to deputy premier has given him a financial windfall, with his salary jumping over $24,000 to $351,788.

The news angered Opposition health spokeswoman Ros Bates, who said Miles would have suffered a pay cut based on real-world KPIs (key performance indicators).

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“Steven Miles should have been sacked last year, not promoted to become the deputy premier of Queensland,’’ she said.

“As the Health Minister he has overseen an 86 per cent increase in surgery waiting lists, record ambulance ramping and a public health system that has lurched from crisis to crisis.” Feisty Bates also points to the waste of taxpayers’ money dumping the Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital name and the massive blowout in health IT projects.

“And of course, the poll he used to try and justify the Cilento renaming decision, which led to a Crime and Corruption Commission preliminary investigation and recommendations to overhaul future government online surveys,” she said.

On that occasion, Bates said, Miles escaped a full-scale CCC investigation.

Miles replaces Jackie Trad, who resigned as deputy premier and treasurer after the CCC began investigating the appointment of a school principal in her electorate of South Brisbane.

Health Minister Steven Miles is sworn in as deputy premier on Monday. Picture: Dan Peled/AAP