Qld storms: Steven Miles joins defence personnel for clean-up

Premier Steven Miles rolled up his sleeves as he returned from a family holiday to inspect wild weather damage throughout South East Queensland.

Premier Steven Miles rolled up his sleeves as he returned from a family holiday to inspect wild weather damage throughout South East Queensland, and to offer a cash handout to councils struggling with the Christmas storm clean-up.

Mr Miles was flanked by Treasurer Cameron Dick and federal Emergency Management Minister Murray Watt on Thursday, joining Australian Defence Force personnel and emergency crews at Upper Coomera on the Gold Coast in clearing logs and branches off roads.

“We’re so glad to have you,” Mr Miles told members of the ADF, with about 50 personnel set to be deployed across the state to assist energy crews with clearing debris to restore power.

“It’s making such a huge difference, they’re moving through this really quickly.

“That’s the power of having the defence force here, reinforcing our SES and our energy workers; everyone’s doing such a fantastic job.”

Speaking to the storm damage he’d seen, Mr Miles said you could tell “just how scary it must have been”.

“Massive trees toppled over, entire yards just full of fallen trees,” he said.

Premier Steven Miles helps with the clean-up on the Gold Coast. Picture: Adam Head

Mr Miles said first responders had been tested in recent weeks with the triple weather disaster of ex-tropical cyclone Jasper, Christmas storms and new year flooding.

“A lot of these people have been working in the Far North where it’s even hotter, even more humid and then they’ve come down to do the work here,” he said.

“But like Queenslanders do, we stuck together, we rolled our sleeves up, we’re getting the place cleaned up, we’re getting the power back on.”

The government had earlier announced that Queensland’s most storm-affected councils – Logan, Scenic Rim and the Gold Coast – would each receive a $1m boost to assist with the clean-up.

Mr Miles said about 6000 homes were still without power, with about 900 hit with such significant damage that electrical certification was required to restore energy – meaning some people would still be without power even as it was returned to their street.

“We want to assure those households that there are grants available to assist them to get the electricity work done within their home,” he said.

More funding grant applications had been received from recent weather events in the southeast and Far North than from the 2022 Brisbane floods.