Qld Premier Steven Miles defends family holiday amid devastating floods

A newly installed premier has defended his choice to go on a family holiday while a large part of the state was ravaged by devastating floods.

Newly installed Queensland Premier Steven Miles has been lashed for being on holiday while the state was devastated by storms and floods.

Up until Thursday, Mr Miles was on holiday with his family at a caravan park on the Sunshine Coast, with Acting Premier Cameron Dick leading the state.

Appearing on Sunrise on Friday morning, Mr Miles said the criticism was a political attack job and he was in constant contact with his team.

“It was one day that I spent in a caravan park on the Sunshine Coast,” he said.

“I think that we can have leaders who can do both. (They) can spend some time with their families but also manage the disaster response.

“I know some people are trying to use this to attack me politically but I can assure you, and assure viewers, that every single moment I’ve been in contact.”

Queensland Premier Steven Miles maintained he was in constant contact with his team, despite being on holiday. Picture: Dan Peled/ NCA NewsWire

Mr Miles’ absence has been compared to the decision by former prime minister Scott Morrison to go on a holiday to Hawaii amid the 2019-20 Black Summer bushfires.

However, Mr Miles said it was a different situation.

“Of course I know it’s disaster season. I’ve been a minister in the state government for nine years, but that’s why I made sure I was close,” he said.

“It was one day I was an hour from home. I was very quickly able to get down (to) the Gold Coast.”

Since Christmas, parts of South East Queensland have been smashed by a deluge of rain, with daily totals exceeding 350mm in some areas. This week, 50 troops from the Australian Defence Force were deployed to the area in order to help with the recovery effort.

Seven people have died in the floods, with thousands of residents left without power and access to running water.

However Mr Miles said “most people” should have their power restored by Friday.

The devastating deluge and floods have destroyed thousands of houses, with seven people dying as a result of the weather event. Picture: NCA NewsWire/ Scott Powick

Mr Miles was also criticised by Sunrise hosts Monique Wright and Matt Doran for defending the Bureau of Meteorology’s weather warning systems, which have been criticised for sending warning text messages 15 minutes after the floods.

The Premier said the disaster response “has been first class”, with Wright and Doran stating Queenslanders would be “aghast” by his answers.

“What the bureau is saying is that some of the weather events that we’ve seen recently they haven’t seen before, so it is hard for them to predict things that they haven’t seen before,” Mr Miles said.

“That storm on the Gold Coast intensified in a period of just 15 minutes, so they got those alerts out as quickly as they could.”