Queensland's deputy premier has defended taking a family break in NSW while his own government is offering incentives to get Queenslanders to holiday at home.
Steven Miles says he will not apologise for holidaying at Byron Bay earlier this month, saying he booked the accommodation two years ago, before the coronavirus pandemic left some Queensland tourism operators fighting for survival.
He said he had deferred the break once previously and would not apologise for going ahead with the booking, saying he holidayed in Queensland over the Christmas break and would do so again later this year.
"I'll never regret taking four working days off to spend with my young family. They make great sacrifices to allow me to do this job," Mr Miles told reporters on Friday.
He accused the Opposition of calling press conferences just to call him names and said LNP leader David Crisafulli was failing to keep his promise to "be different".
"At the moment he just looks like a less-effective version of (former leader) Campbell Newman," Mr Miles said.
The LNP's attacks over the Byron Bay holiday were led by the manager of Opposition business Jarrod Bleijie, who said the NSW break did not pass the pub test.
Deputy Leader of the Opposition David Janetzki joined in, saying Mr Miles owed Queensland tourism operators an apology.
Mr Miles said that during his break he taught his kids to surf and boogie board, and was told by Byron Bay locals they felt the town should be part of Queensland.
"I agree with them. You would have heard me say that when we had discussions about the Queensland, NSW border.
"We offered at that time to move the border south of Byron Bay. We would have happily done that."
In March, the state government launched a voucher program for 15,000 Queenslanders to encourage them to holiday within the state to offset billions of dollars in lost tourism revenue stemming from coronavirus travel restrictions.
Australian Associated Press
