Cyclone Alfred: David Crisafulli changes Palaszczuk-era disaster management

David Crisafulli has ditched the mandates of the Annastacia Palaszczuk era, saying Queenslanders can control their own destinies in a disaster. VOTE IN OUR POLL

• Editor’s view: Wisdom of the crowd

An LNP-led state government will always back the decision of on-ground experts, Premier David Crisafulli has said, in a decisive break from Queensland’s Palaszczuk-era mandates.

Mr Crisafulli, at the helm of the first South East Queensland disaster of the LNP’s term, steadfastly backed people to make decisions for themselves by arming them with all the ­information.

The government also left it to principals to decide when their schools reopened, declaring local decision-making was the best model.

This was in stark contrast to Mr Crisafulli’s Labor predecessor Annastacia Palaszczuk, who in March 2022 closed schools across the southeast and urged residents to stay home amid warnings of severe weather – only to apologise the next day when storms didn’t eventuate.

Mr Crisafulli, in a veiled reference to previous government crisis decision-making, said shifting to recovery mode was easier when local experts were left to decide what was best for communities.

“If you believe in people, you believe in local decision-making, always,” he said.

“I’ll always back a principal and someone who knows about buildings to make an informed decision, and then I back parents to make the next decision on whether or not they believe their kids should go to school.

“And if you do that, you allow people the best chance to move from response to recovery, because I’ve seen over the years what happens when governments get bogged down and aren’t able to flick the switch.

“The best thing you can do is try to make sure that as different people come, and different communities come on board at different times, you immediately move them into the next phase, and you give them help, but you also give them hope.”

The approach meant two-thirds of schools stayed shut on Monday, and half on Tuesday.

Griffith University political expert Paul Williams said Mr Crisafulli’s evidence-based approach through Tropical Cyclone Alfred would appeal more to educated inner-city and middle-class voters.

Ms Palaszczuk’s Covid-19-era leadership, which included hard border closures with no special considerations for events for funerals, appealed to the conservative Right, he said.

But Mr Crisafulli’s crisis-management style risked him being seen as weak by those voters, he said.

“They want decisive action, and they want action now, and that’s very much part and parcel of Queensland political culture,” he said.

“They wouldn’t have responded terribly well, and it may lead to the impression that Crisafulli was a weak leader.”

Originally published as Cyclone Alfred: David Crisafulli changes Palaszczuk-era disaster management