Qld weather: Fears of life-threatening flooding around Townsville as 1000mm possible over four days
Steven Miles has taken another swing at David Crisafulli over what he describes as a lack of preparedness for NQ’s latest flooding disaster.
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Opposition Leader Steven Miles has doubled down on his attack of David Crisafulli, slamming the Premier as “too lazy” while insisting he was available to help with the ongoing flood crisis if he got a call.
With at least six suburbs under evacuation orders and emergency services working around the clock, and emergency services working around the clock, for the second time in two days the Labor leader didn’t hold back, slamming Mr Crisafulli for failing to convene the Queensland Disaster Management Committee (QDMC) before the storm hit.
“The Premier has my number, and he’s welcome to contact me,” he said.
“But I would have advised him to call the QDMC together to ensure the state was prepared.”
Mr Miles claimed this was the first time in more than a decade that the QDMC was not engaged in time to deal with a disaster, something he said never happened under his leadership or during Labor’s time in government.
“For 10 years, the QDMC met as soon as it was clear a disaster would hit and planned out at a state level the preparation, response, and recovery,” Miles said.
“This is the first natural disaster in 10 years where that hasn’t happened, and that’s because we now have a Premier who’s too lazy to do the job that he wanted so badly.”
Instead, Mr Miles claims, the state’s key disaster management body only met once the flood crisis was well underway – far too late, in his view.
“You can’t be preparing for a disaster once the disaster has already hit,” he said.
“The QDMC should have been meeting during the week, checking on those preparations, ensuring all agencies, all local governments, and all response teams were prepared.”
But according to Mr Miles, the Premier and his ministers were elsewhere.
“David Crisafulli and all of those ministers on the QDMC, they were all at their LNP retreat, instead of preparing for this disaster,” he said.
The second attack came a day after Mr Miles slammed the Premier as being “out of his depth”, a call that was savaged by many readers who said now was not the time for political pointscoring.
In an exclusive online poll more than 90 per cent voted that Mr Miles should have held fire until Queenslanders were safe amid the flood drama.
As of Saturday North Queensland remained on high alert as intense rain hit the region, sparking further fears of life-threatening flooding.
The Bureau of Meteorology on Saturday morning issued a flood warning from Cairns to Mackay.
A Severe Weather Warning was also current for parts of the North Tropical Coast, Tablelands, Herbert and Lower Burdekin.
“Isolation of communities and disruption to transport routes are possible over the next few days,” the BOM warning read.
It came as flooding gripped the state’s far north, with a warning of days of intense rain ahead sparking fears of life-threatening flooding.
On Friday Opposition leader Miles sparked an extraordinary attack on Mr Crisafulli, claiming the Premier is “out of his depth”.
Mr Miles argues Mr Crisafulli had failed to properly mobilise the state’s disaster management group.
The Premier received a briefing from emergency services at Kedron on Friday afternoon, however Police and Emergency Services Minister Dan Purdie and Local Government and Disaster Recovery Minister Ann Leahy did not appear to be present.
“The Premier should have set up the Queensland Disaster Management Committee before this storm system hit Far North Queensland and well before it hit North Queensland,” Mr Miles said.
“Preparation before a disaster can be the difference between life and death and David Crisafulli has neglected his duties in preparing Queenslanders for this disaster.
“This summer has been more about holidays for David Crisafulli and his Disaster Recovery Minister and Disaster Management Minister than preparing Queenslanders for these inevitable weather events.”
A spokeswoman for the Premier rubbished the claims and said Mr Crisafulli briefed the disaster management group on Friday morning.
“The Premier briefed all members of the QDMC at 11.30am prior to addressing media at 1pm,” she said.
Mr Crisafulli is understood to have been in contact with mayors of affected communities for several days and was locked up at Kedron’s emergency services centre from 8am.The disaster management group includes senior members of the government including the Energy and Health ministers and Deputy Premier.
Premier Crisafulli on Friday said Queensland was “well and truly prepared” for the rainfall and potential flooding.
“I can advise Queenslanders that we spent a lot of time ahead of the disaster season focusing on the preparation and the pre-deployment that has occurred in the past days has given me confidence about how well prepared we are.
State Disaster Coordinator and Police Deputy Commissioner Shane Chelepy said 35 extra police had been sent in to North Queensland on Friday morning and more were being sent during the day.
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