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The quarantine we had to have – but after 160 days and $237m, Wellcamp’s time is up

Queensland’s COVID-19 quarantine centres will be mothballed, including the $200 million Wellcamp facility that has only housed 700 people since opening in February.

 

Jul 27, 2022, updated Jul 27, 2022
Vacant homes at the Wellcamp quarantine centre near Toowoomba. It will be closed down after only 160 days of operation. 
(ABC image).

Vacant homes at the Wellcamp quarantine centre near Toowoomba. It will be closed down after only 160 days of operation. (ABC image).

The LNP Opposition prices the Wellcamp centre as high as $237 million when accounting for capital and leasing, management costs, the Quarantine Taskforce (which has also been disbanded) and a medical services contract, which still has $92 million unpaid on signed terms.

At that rate, according to Opposition Leader David Crisafulli, it has cost $325,000 for each guest to stay at Wellcamp since its controversial opening six months ago.

“The State Government could’ve bought a one-bedroom unit for each guest,” he said.

Deputy Premier Steven Miles defended the expense of the privately built centre near Toowoomba during budget estimates hearings in Brisbane, deflecting criticism to the “game-playing” of the former Morrison Government for delaying construction through the worst of Covid lockdowns.

It was the former federal government’s preference to build a facility on Commonwealth-owned land at Pinkenba near Brisbane Airport, currently nearing completion, he told the hearing.

Miles’ office later issued a statement relaying advice from Chief Health Officer John Gerard, that the Queensland Regional Accommodation Centre at Wellcamp would stop receiving people from August 1, while the State Government had advised Canberra it would no longer require Pinkenba.

Miles said the Wellcamp centre would be placed under a “care and maintenance” arrangement and would remain available should the pandemic response settings change.

He said similar moves were happening around the country as the pandemic response shifted, including a decision to also mothball Howard Springs in the Northern Territory and a hunt to find other uses for a Commonwealth-funded facility in Perth.

He said the State Government would consider other uses for Wellcamp for the remainder of the QRAC lease.

During hearings at Parliament House, Miles was asked to justify the Queensland Government’s investment in the Wellcamp centre, built by the region’s well-known Wagner family, who constructed Toowoomba’s domestic passenger and international freight airport.

Miles told the hearing the Palaszczuk Government was left little choice to pursue its own option, as reliance on hotel quarantine was proving incapable of containing outbreaks and proved costly on the public purse.

“If any facility had been started in January 2021 when we were calling for it, it would have been delivered by mid 2021 when we had thousands and thousands of people in hotel quarantine,” he said.

“But instead of helping the Morrison Government just played games.”

Miles said the State Government commissioned its own report that rated the suitability of Wellcamp well above its nearest contender at Calliope in Central Queensland and other possible locations, which conflicted with the then federal government’s position that any quarantine centre would need to be built on Commonwealth land.

“It was a completely arbitrary rule, presumably to rule Wellcamp out of consideration,” he said.

“This was after a year of coming up with excuses, such as ‘Toowoomba is in the middle of a desert’, which it is not.”

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But Crisafulli has accused the Palaszczuk Government of playing games, saying the failure of Wellcamp was the result of a “trigger-happy decision to try and wedge the former Federal Government”.

“The Wellcamp waste will forever be remembered as the price Queenslanders pay when this government prioritises politics over the genuine needs of Queenslanders,” Crisafulli said.

“The Wellcamp waste happened while the State Government was still paying tens of millions of dollars for empty hotel rooms and with a Commonwealth owned facility coming online at Pinkenba.

“We were promised a future-proofing facility yet all we got was proof the State Government can’t be trusted with your money to plan for our future.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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