DISASTER MANAGEMENT BOSS SLAMMED FOR HOLIDAY DURING CYCLONE ALFRED
- Alistair Dawson took leave following the Cyclone
- He is the Inspector-General of Emergency Management
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Queensland's disaster response and recovery boss took a holiday as millions of devastated residents braced for the impact of ex-Cyclone Alfred.
Inspector-General of Emergency Management Alistair Dawson took leave from Sunday as winds, heavy rain and flash flooding wreaked havoc across the state.
It's understood Emergency Services Minister Daniel Purdie approved Mr Dawson's leave before the cyclone formed and did not request him to cancel.
In the lead-up to Alfred's arrival, Mr Dawson attended the Queensland Disaster Management Committee meetings, the Courier Mail reported.
However, he was notably absent when millions of residents woke to chaos.
The cyclone was downgraded to a tropical low on Saturday morning, but residents along the northern NSW coast and southeast Queensland faced massive downpours, flash flooding and loss of power.
Mr Dawson was re-appointed to his $356,000-a-year role in March, after he was elected to the role in 2020 by former Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk.
The Emergency Management body is responsible for monitoring government agencies' response to and recovery from disasters.
The agency also issues an Inspector-General of Emergency Management's review with recommendations for improvements following a disaster.
Mr Dawson will not author the review, with an acting inspector-general set to prepare the report instead.
Sources told the Courier Mail that Mr Dawson took his annual leave and left Australia, but his office refused to share where he went.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted the Office of the Inspector-General Emergency Management for comment.
Ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred made landfall on Saturday at 9pm (Queensland time) and lashed the region with wild weather.
Up to 17 people were rescued overnight on Sunday, with the SES called to more than 300 jobs in a few hours.
Queensland's state-owned energy giant Energex said 410,000 of the 450,000 homes that lost power during Alfred have been reconnected.
Damage reports are still coming in, as evacuated residents gradually return home after a long week rescues and record rainfall.
Read more 2025-03-13T04:18:34Z
